Aftermath
by Miss Starfire
Summary: An aftermath, for the everyday person, is the result of a catastrophic event. For Tony Stark, an aftermath is just another regular day in his life. Set after Captain America: Civil War.
1. Prologue

**Summary:** An aftermath, for the everyday person, is the result of a catastrophic event. For Tony Stark, an aftermath is just another regular day in his life. SPOILER ALERT: Set after Captain America: Civil War.

 **Standard disclaimer for all my stories:** My stories are graphic, angsty, frustrating, filled with cliffhangers, drama and foul language. Read at your own risk – medical issues and subsequent bills are not covered by yours truly ;) If you don't like, please don't read. I appreciate reviews and constructive feedback but if you cannot stand the plot, save yourself and me some time and walk away. You don't have to love all IM stories :) I don't own IM. My stories are better viewed by using the "half screen" option of FFNET.

* * *

 **Aftermath**

 **Prologue**

She was too engrossed in catching up with their injured friend to become aware that she was being keenly watched from afar – to become aware of what her presence was doing to him. He had not seen her in person, or at least not this close, in what seemed to be several weeks; perhaps much closer to a couple of months, in fact. Quite possibly, thinking about it further, it was most likely a lot longer than that. It was nowhere near a year, however; that much was true. But it _was_ long enough to feel as if three eternities had gone by. Hell, maybe _four_!

Tony Stark silently scoffed at his own denial of the issue at hand – at the fact that he was, yet again, lying to himself. At the irony that was to be caught red-handed undertaking the one thing that he had been accused of continuously doing by the very same redhead that was unsuspectingly sitting by Rhodey's bedside, at this very moment, behind the glass wall that barely kept his presence from being noticed by either of them.

Virginia _Pepper_ Potts: she knew him too well, and that was the problem. She could tell when he was lying to others. And, worse than that: she could tell when he was lying to himself.

How long had it been since she had told him this? How long had it been since she had walked out the door on him because of it?

Six weeks? Two months? A whole fucking year? Who the hell knew?

 _I do,_ the billionaire thought somberly before he shook his head, stared at his feet for a moment, and then looked up again to watch Pepper wipe tears from her face.

If truth be told, and he was not really known for doing much of this in everyday life, he actually knew the _exact_ number of months, weeks, days, hours, and seconds that they had been _on a break_. He appeared to have some type of innate internal calendar that kept filling up every morning, as soon as he opened his eyes, with yet another instance of the life that was now his reality – filling up his soul, as it would add yet another grain inside a sand clock, with one more day that was going to go by with him not waking up by her side.

Oh, yes. He most certainly _knew_ just how much time had passed since she had ended the relationship – there was no doubt about that. Yet, he firmly kept back from officially quantifying the lapse. If he were to say aloud the precise count to the defined level that he knew it to be, he feared that it would cement the undesirable outcome; that it would guarantee that there would be no turning back for them.

That it would make extinct all of his hope.

His head shifted to his right, his gaze simultaneously staring at everything and nothing, and it focused only when he realized what he had just done once more.

He was, yet again, guilty of lying to himself.

No hope. He already knew that there was _no_ hope.

He clenched his eyes shut and returned his head to the front. He inhaled deeply through his nose, swallowed hard a couple of times, and then finally opened his eyes. It took him a second or so, but once it dawned on him that her blue ones were staring back at him, he was paralyzed where he stood.

He momentarily pursed his lips when he realized the poor choice of words that had echoed in his head. Yet, thankfully for him, Rhodey could not read his mind. On the other hand, Pepper Potts did not need to be capable of doing that. And, at this very moment, as her eyes bore the clear signs of crippling mixed emotions swirling within one's fractured soul, he came to the realization that neither did he need to do the same for his former ladylove.

She was more than just a little disappointed.

And she was disappointed _in him_.

* * *

 **A/N:** *slowly walks up the dusty, cobweb littered stage, taps microphone, and clears throat* This thing still on? Yeah? OK. Cool. Hi! Remember me? Been long, huh? Any of my Iron Man fanfic Faithful Readers still out here? Any of them willing to join me in another angsty fic? Are we all alive here, even after watching Civil War? *sighs* Yes. I just got back from watching that awesome movie, but I'm also so very bummed at finding out what happened to our Pepperony. I've spent the last three years writing Pepperony under Iron Man: Armored Adventures, and then I find out what Marvel did to our favorite couple.

I sob.

Tissues, anyone?

Anyway, I refuse to accept MCU Pepperony is over, so to deal with the pain, here's a story that I have no idea where it's gonna go, save for one crucial thing: it will bring our couple back, even if just for our fic world.

Hope you enjoy :)


	2. Chapter 1: Wheels Up

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Thank you for the favorites/follows:** _SwimmingPython_ , _16milesperhour_ , _lexiaoyao_ , _FDRG_ , _Crese_ , _SKLgirl_ , _SingItAllAway_ , _AsgardsValkyrie_ , _CookieMonster'Always_ , _ForsakenMythr2012_ , _Expelliarmus11_ , _Mittyadarsh_ , _Tvfreak2000_ , and _Dandelo19_. Many thank yous to all!

 **MarieLecter: Really good start! Can't wait for the next chapter :) Good thing that you bring them back... since the 18th April(yep, I was at the French Premiere and met Mr. Downey... he's awesome! :D ), I feel horrible. I was like 'you're kidding me, right? It's a joke, she's gonna appear or something!' I think every Iron Man fan loves Pepperony ; I don't get why they made them break up... (okay, I'm fangirling )** – WOW! I'm so jealous! Of you meeting RDJ in person, that is. But not jealous at all for how long you've been suffering. It's only been about 10 days for me, but damn. It. Sucks! Writing this fic is helping me, though, and I hope it helps you too. The chapters are not very long, but we all know how the story will end: with our Pepperony back together, even if just in our fic world for now. Thank you for your review!

 **Guest: Awesome ideas here. So po'd they put these two on a break.** –ABSOLUTELY! Thanks for reviewing! I saw a post on Twitter that said something along the lines of: _Cancelled Agent Carter. Split Pepperony. Killed Quicksilver. Made Staron and Brutasha canon. Thanks Marvel!_ And then it showed a GIF of Mrs. Doubtfire giving someone the finger through a window. Yeah. That's about how I feel about Marvel right now XD

 **Kate: Love it, looking foward to see how things work out between those two. Was so surprised and sad about this breakup, but I think it was necessary to explore this side of Tony and justify his actions and attitude. Still hopeful, to be honest, their relationship is too important in the saga to just drop it, and RDJ just love Pepper. Can't wait to read more !** – I think that's what made me even MORE upset: the fact that the breakup made sense! I can't argue logic and, in my humble opinion, they HAD to break in order for CW to work from Tony's perspective. I honestly think that he wouldn't have been so off-the-chart if Pepper had been around. He NEEDS her! Or, you know, WE need them together. Yeah, I think WE need them together, for sure. And thank you for taking the time to read and review!

 **Guest:** **Hell to the yeah! Just what I needed. Hope you update soon** – WOOT! WOOT! Thank you so very much for reviewing! I will try to update once a week, especially since these chapters will only be around 1K each. I have a couple of other stories I have been writing for a while, and while my Faithful Readers over there have been so very patient with me with my lazy ass updates, they've been waiting for over a year for me to get my crap together and finish one particular story XD. I thank you in advance for being patient with me on this one too :)

 **Guest: It was so sad to see their breakup. They love each other so much after go through a lots of things in past 10 years. We need more pepperony. Cant wait to see update from you.** – Pepperony is life, my friend! I hope we get to see their getting back together on screen. They're just so adorable together! Life goals are with them! Oh, and thank you for reviewing! Hope you like this chapter too :D

 **keylimelie: The "break" hit me hard too, especially when I thought Gwyneth Paltrow was supposed to make an appearance.** – UGH! YES! THIS! A THOUSAND TIMES THIS! I tried to stay away from social media (especially Tumblr) to avoid getting spoiled, but when I read that she was going to make an appearance, I made up all these fluffy possibilities in my mind. And then I get to the movie theater and BAM! I'm hit with Tony's face painfully seeing her name on the teleprompter. I died. Thanks for your review!

 **CharlotteLiar:** Thank you for the favorite. I wasn't able to PM you to thank you. I hope you don't mind me doing it through here ^_^

 **A/N:** Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who read, reviewed, followed, or favorited the story or me as an author. I saw some familiar faces (welcome back!), but I also saw some new faces (welcome!), and that's always something to look forward. Notice for the new Faithful Readers: my only sustenance in life are emails notifying me of favorites/follows and reviews. Please keep me fed with a daily calorie intake of these in my inbox XD

BTW, if you don't get a response to your signed reviews via PM, it's because FFNET is messing up again, and not because I'm not grateful for your input! I get the email notifications of reviews, but there are no reviews showing on the site for me to reply to!

 **EDIT 09/04/16:** By popular demand from my Faithful Readers – and thanks to my schedule getting better – I've made adjustments to this story. I've merged the existing nine chapters into three semi-equal length ones, which brings the length of one chapter to about 3K words. This will give my readers what they have been asking for, and me more space to be as details as I need to be :) Thank you all for your patience! I will reward you with interest! ^_^

 **EDIT 04/16/17:** New adjustments have been made to the length of the chapters for this story to increase the pace and provide better context as to what is happening and when. It also helps me narrow down what I have pending to write and makes it easier on me to commit to updates. What used to be Chapters 1-3 are now Chapter 1: Wheels Up. Chapters 4-6 are now Chapter 2: Venice. Chapters 7-9 are now Chapter 3: Madrid, Part 1. Chapters 10-12 (this one) are now Chapter 4: Madrid, Part 2. The future chapters will be Chapter 5: London; Chapter 6: Pretoria; Chapter 7: Dubai; Chapter 8: Dhaka; Chapter 9: Moscow, Part 1; Chapter 10: Moscow, Part 2; Chapter 11: Hong Kong; Chapter 12: Tokyo; Chapter 13: Sydney; Chapter 14: Brasilia; Chapter 15: Mexico City; Chapter 16: New York; and then the Epilogue.

Moving forward, I will focus more on key interactions between Tony and Pepper. The scope of this fic was supposed to be how we can get our Pepperony back, not the investors' stories themselves (unless they're relevant to our cause). I'm sorry reading this story has been like pulling teeth for ya'll. Last time I write a story with very little planning ahead on my behalf :)

Thanks for sticking around ^_^

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Wheels Up**

"I'm sorry about MIT."

Her odd and unexpected statement made his attempt to flee halt in its tracks; a task he had swiftly embarked on when he had realized that she had become aware that he was nearby. It was not so much so that he had wanted to hide from her presence – it was more that he had wanted to escape the look of unreserved disappointment that had tainted her face at seeing him again.

"I managed," he said with a rather pronounced shrug, but he made no effort to turn around in place to face her. "No harm. No foul."

His response sounded painfully insincere, especially to him, making him internally flinch at the fact that he was AGAIN lying to himself – and to her. He _had_ certainly managed to finish the speech without her being there to wrap it up for him; but the harm and the foul had undoubtedly prevailed at all times.

If truth be told, and if he stopped lying his ass off, he would be able to freely admit that both aches were _still_ very much present right now.

Pepper pressed her lips together to keep from verbally expressing what they both knew he was poignantly doing: lying, lying about lying, and then lying some more. There was no need to make this awkward encounter worse for either of them; she recognized that this breakup had been hard on him too. And this was without taking into account that he did not know the all-inclusive truth behind her reason to end it all.

Tony Stark, a compulsive liar? Hell, yes. He certainly was one!

But she, Pepper Potts, was not too far behind.

Perhaps – and it was quite possible, in fact – his scorching skin, adept hands, and his soft lips had not been the _only_ things of his to rub off on her.

 _Couples that live together, start to look alike_ , Rhodey had once told her in jest, and the redhead had loudly snorted at the thought.

Looking alike was one thing – acting alike… that was a completely different thing altogether. Yet, the evidence before them was damming, since neither of them knew what to do or say right now.

Other than _I'm sorry_ , that was.

 _Sorry for lying to you, even after I called you out on it and broke it off because of it. Sorry for breaking up with you, even after everything we've gone through together. Sorry for the Avengers splitting up, even after everything you did to keep them together. Sorry for how I know you feel guilty that Rhodey may never walk again on his own, even if it's not really your fault. Sorry for standing here, making you uncomfortable while I wait for you to guide me on what you want me to do, even if I have no right to ask anything of you._

The words should have been easy to say; but her mouth remained shut through it all.

"Thanks for coming to visit. He really needs a friend right now," Tony finally turned to be face-to-face with her, but his eyes were on Rhodey's back, the man opting to not be part of the conversation he knew was taking place right outside his hospital room.

"Happy will be here in a minute. He dropped me off at the front. He… he had to go park two blocks away from here."

"Why?" his curious eyes locked with hers. "You're the CEO of Stark Industries, Pep. You can park in the waiting room, for all anyone cares."

Against her better judgement, and perhaps because she was trembling in nervousness inside, she chuckled loudly at his retort. The familiar sound made his heart swell, and it pulled an overly _satisfied-with-himself_ smile from him as well. They even went as far as taking a step closer to each other, but neither of them seemed to notice the practically synchronized move.

"Damage control," she replied after she composed herself.

"Oh, yeah," Tony scrunched up his nose. " _That_ annoying thing. Throw billions of dollars at life-saving research, with no questions asked, and no one bats an eye. You're a multinational company, right? That's what you're supposed to do. But ask for your limousine to be validated at the hospital to come see your injured friend, and all hell breaks loose."

"It's the way of the world, Tony. Or _our_ world. It's just… it's just the business we're in. It's what we have to do."

"Yeah, I know," his voice suddenly turned serious after a gulp. "And I couldn't do it without you."

At that, Pepper closed her eyes to protect her heart and soul from his loud gaze. The look in his eyes was simply too much for her to bear. This, _him_ right now, was one of the reasons why she had cancelled her presence at the MIT Alumni Conference on such short notice; because of this, _and_ also because of what she had found at his office, the morning of the event.

When she opened her eyes again, his body was inches away from hers.

She licked her lips, looked past his left shoulder and towards the end of the hall, and watched the exact moment when Happy appeared by the corner of it, fast walking towards where they stood.

The magic was gone. The moment was over. And she had to get ahold of herself before she made the mistake of telling him the truth.

"Is he OK?" Happy's troubled voice made Tony put on both his casual face and his tinted glasses.

"Yes, Happy," Tony replied. "Or… he _will_ be alright. In time. Just don't make any jokes about being hit by a guy named Vision who didn't really quite see where he was aiming his laser."

"Jesus, Tony!" Happy shook his head at him but ended up smiling anyway on his way into Rhodey's room. Hearing humor coming from his long-time friend and former boss instantly told him all he needed to know about Rhodey's current status: it was bad, yes. But Tony would not let it go until the Air Force Colonel was back to his normal self. No one expected less of either of them: both men were stubborn as a mule.

Or as a couple of colossal asses, as it was in their case.

"I'll be waiting for you," Tony whispered to Pepper once Happy was out of earshot.

"What?"

"The board meeting at SI, tomorrow. I'll be waiting for you."

"I'll be there," she replied, ignored the burning need to run her hand down his injured face to make sure he was alright, and then silently walked away from him, leaving him feeling as lonely and hollow as the last time she had told him these exact same words: the time she had promised to be there when he needed her, shortly after stating that she was moving out of their home.

xxxXXXxxx

It had not been long enough since the last time she had been here, alone in Tony's Stark Industries' private office, cracking her fingers at the thought of seeing him again. In fact, the previous time her presence had been known to be in this room, it had been during the same morning when she had been supposed to be in route to MIT to join Tony at the Alumni Event. She had stopped by to double-check some items of his speech with him, particularly his intention to donate millions of dollars towards every single piece of research taking place at his Alma Mater, but she had found said room to be devoid of any presence but hers. Surprisingly, Tony had made his way to MIT much earlier than it was needed to be there on time, simply because, as Bambi had promptly informed her upon arrival, he had wanted to have a chance to talk to her before the start of the speech.

That had been the start of her panic attack, and it had only increased in intensity the longer she had been in the room.

That morning, she had had every intention of attending the MIT event, of standing next to him in front of that crowd, putting on her business face, and pretending that she and Tony were not having a difficult time dealing with this breakup while still sharing a business partnership. She had been willing to deny that she had wanted to quit her position as CEO once it had become obvious to her that she could no longer be with him. She had been ready to refute that she had pondered throwing away her career so that she did not have to be forced to see him at times like these, when appearances needed to be maintained to keep the Board Members and the investors happy.

She had been so sure that she could have pulled it off; that she could have risen to the occasion without much effort on her part, but her heart had quickly laughed at her face and had told her: no. She had been unable to pull through that day – very much so as she was having a difficult time today again. That particular morning, she had been unable to go through with it all once she had seen the papers on his desk. This morning, she was ready to bolt out the door when her eyes had landed on another item in his office that brought painful memories to her.

Memories of what it was like to date an Avenger. Memories of what it was like to decline Tony Stark's engagement proposal, and instead tell him that she could not be with him anymore.

Because, yes: Tony Stark had asked her to marry him; he had even gotten down on one knee and all, just mere seconds before she had informed him that it was over between them both.

The look on his face at hearing her breaking it up would forever haunt her… but she would much rather carry that image of him being disappointed by _her_ actions, than him bearing the guilt of what had happened to her because of _his_ actions.

He would just never know. And that was that.

The door opening behind her made her right palm fly to her face to cover her mouth, if only to keep her gasp under control. There were only two people who had access to this office – and one of them was already inside. This meant that there was only other person who was currently approaching her, saying hi to her in the process, and then resting his hand on her lower back.

"Sorry," he quickly said when he realized what he was doing, mostly out of habit, before he snatched his hand away from the small of her back as if it had scalded him.

"It's OK," she replied as she half turned in place to stare at him, and was shocked to find that he was not as empty-handed as she thought he would be.

"It's gluten-free," he offered, his hands shaking in tension while he held a brown paper bag in one hand, and then transferred a coffee cup to his other. "And no strawberries either."

"You… bought breakfast?" she asked as she cautiously grabbed the coffee and the bag from him, which she quickly realized held a still very warm waffle inside.

"I figured you might be hungry at this ungodly early hour. Who the hell holds a board meeting at 6:30 AM, anyway?"

"Your board members, apparently," she replied even though she knew the question had been either rhetorical, or akin to his version of small talk.

"Next time we renew the bylaws, please remind me we oughta make these early meetings illegal."

Despite herself, she smiled at his comment, nodded once to him, and then walked towards a chair near the large mahogany desk in the office, opting to avoid an argument or an awkward conversation by eating the waffle and drinking the coffee with no questions asked, even if she had already had something to eat on her way here.

Watching her eagerly accept his offering meant the world to him. So much so that he allowed himself to pretend nothing was over and that nothing was off between them. Pretending never really hurt anyone, either way… or, actually, pretending was better than facing the truth.

"Did you bring something for yourself?" the redhead asked when she realized he was just standing near her, watching her intently, but not doing much of anything else at all.

"Had a muffin on the way here," he shrugged. "Gluten-free, too. I promise."

"Tony, you-you… you can eat whatever you want now. You… you really don't have to–"

"I know," he interrupted her, his eyes not staring at hers. "And I wanted a gluten-free muffin, so I had that."

Pepper opened her mouth to reply – to tell him that she knew he hated the diet he had followed when they had lived together, but she decided against doing just that, in the end. It did not matter if he wanted to eat healthy or not, after all. And bringing up the subject would only cause a can of worms, one she was not quite ready to face, to open up.

"Thank you, Tony," the woman added when she realized she was yet to utter her gratitude to him.

"My pleasure, Pep," he replied instantly. "You know I'd do anything for you."

 _Except leave the Avengers_ , her mind replied for her. _Except stop putting yourself in danger like you always do._

"Are you ready for the meeting?" Pepper asked in an effort to deviate the conversation away from personal matters and into business mode.

"I'm ready to fall asleep during it," he jested. "I think I can sleep with my eyes open now."

"Lucky you," the redhead said as she stood up after finishing her breakfast goodness and then deposited the empty bag in the trash.

Tony looked away from her and towards the front door that he had left unlocked so that Bambi could do what she was currently doing: coming inside to tell them it was time for the meeting to start; doing so right before he made his final retort.

"Yeah, Pep. Lucky me."

How true this statement was going to become once they entered the board room and were present at the meeting, would be something that would never leave his mind…

… for his entire _life_.

xxxXXXxxx

The moment after the Board Members had slapped her with their _oh-so-brilliant_ idea to secure more funding for the many projects that Tony Stark had just promised money to, days ago, Pepper Potts felt the entire world come to a halt. Her ears, no matter how much she tried to force them to work properly, could only hear an endlessly repeating chorus of the words she had just heard; the sentence drawn out in such an exaggerated manner that it made the entire scene surreal.

Her eyes were blinking rapidly, yet they continued to feel as dry and grainy as a bucket of sand. Her hands had begun shaking. Her brain was being overcrowded by a thick mental fog. Her lungs felt as if they were being sorely constricting and, no one – _no one_ ; other than Tony Stark himself, of course – noticed that she was about to lash out like a target being cornered by an overpowering predator.

She pursed her lips and swallowed hard. Her eyes narrowed and her hands turned into fists. And just as she was about to use her metaphorical fangs to bite the life out of the SI Board Members' seemingly ridiculous idea, Tony Stark placed a comforting hand on hers.

Her head snapped towards her right, where Tony was sitting next to her, and he gave her a small smile, knowing damn well what she was feeling right now. Not because he was feeling it as intensely as she was, mind you, or at least not in such a negative manner, he was not. But because he had known this woman for well over ten years – there was only so much that she could successfully hide from him.

"Isn't it perfect?" one board member said with a degree of elation that Pepper had never seen on anyone, ever, in her entire life. "We all win!"

"What do you mean by _we_ , exactly?" Tony asked with a smile that Pepper knew to be fake – one that he tended to use when he was trying his best to be polite even though he definitely did not feel like being so.

"Well, everyone," said board member replied. "You, us, the investors, the people who are expecting funding for their projects. Everyone! And everyone wins!"

"Right," Tony smacked his lips and then retracted his hand from Pepper's. "But, Jim, you're making a lot of assumptions right now. Don't you think?"

"Assumptions?"

"Yes," Tony tapped his fingers on the table. "You're assuming that _I_ am available for this trip you suggest we take. You're also assuming that Miss Potts _doesn't_ have better things to do already set in stone on her agenda. She _does_ run a large company, you know?"

"Seeing that this _is_ a company project, I don't see the issue, Mr. Stark."

"Of course you wouldn't," Tony shrugged. "When was the last time you went on a company trip, Jim? These things take careful planning and time."

"But you're Iron Man," a second board member said with a scoff. " _Planning_ is not even a word you have in your vocabulary, Mr. Stark!"

"Besides," the Chairman of the Board began, "You _did_ promise us that your personal matters would not interfere with our business ones."

"Right," Tony replied with a smile, yet Pepper could see that it was everything but an honest, pleasant or well-intended one.

"We did," Pepper spoke in a soft voice, her anger currently taking a backseat to professional responsibility and her innate need to do what had to be done.

"Then we agree?" Jim asked and everyone's eyes fell on Pepper Potts and Tony Stark.

The twosome silently gazed at one another, a quiet and uncomfortable conversation taking place between them. The assignment was unwelcome and unexpected, but it also was required, reasonable, and in line with the promise they had made to the board when they had informed them of their separation. The investors and the general public did not know of their breakup, simply because it did not make business sense to shake the financial market with news that could cause undue speculation. The company's stock had skyrocketed when it had been announced that the _genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist_ was showing signs of settling down. The opposite news could have detrimental repercussions on the company at-large. In the grand scheme of things, it was easier to suck it up and pretend they were still together than to be the cause for all of the people depending on them to lose their stability and jobs.

It was just a month or two of them traveling alone together around the world, anyway. What could possibly go wrong?

"Alright," Pepper was the first one to verbally agree to the terms. "We'll go."

"We will?" Tony furrowed his brow, his eyes still on hers, looking away only when he realized she was trying her best not to explode. "I mean, yeah. Of course. We'll go."

"Wonderful!" Jim clasped his hands.

"I knew you'd see the benefits of this," a third board member said, his smile so wide that it almost looked painful to have.

"Of course we do. When do we leave?" Pepper asked, her entire willpower focused on keeping herself from punching the board member in the face and then bolting out the door.

"Tonight, of course," Jim replied.

"Tonight?" Tony asked.

"Yes. You're expected to meet Mr. Abbiati in his home in Venice at 8:00 AM."

"Venice? The City of Love?"

"That's Paris, Tony," Pepper said between clenched teeth.

"Depends on who you ask, Pep," he replied with a smile that was the result of fond memories with her returning to him, despite knowing that he was tempting the devil with his actions and response. The cat was out of the bag, anyway. Whether they liked it or not, they would have to pretend to still be together for the next six weeks or so.

"It's settled, then," the Chairman of the Board stood up. "Mr. Stark. Miss Potts. Please give our regards to our investors and have some fun!"

 _Fun_ , Pepper closed her eyes once she heard the last of the board members exit the room. _Sure. Fun._

xxxXXXxxx

She thought that she had been making some real progress.

She really, really, _really_ believed that she had.

But she had been terribly wrong. Oh, so very, very, _very_ wrong!

One deep gaze from his soft, brown eyes. One seemingly innocent touch of his skin against hers. One simple word or phrase coming from him, murmured into her ear when alone, and she knew she would break. Crumble at his feet. Spit out the truth to him. It was that easy; that _effortless_ , for her resolve to dissolve around him. This was why she had remained as far away from him as possible since they had broken up. This was why she had busied herself with everything and anything that she had been able to sign up to do. This was why she was dreading getting on the Stark Industries private jet with him right now. Not because of what _he_ could do… but because of what _she_ could let _him_ do to _her_.

Ten years of being nothing more than his personal assistant, his always-on-duty babysitter, his on-call jail bond payer, and perhaps even his very close friend, had not prepared her for trying to move on from loving him as much as she did. They had known each other for sixteen years; had dated for nearly six – had lived together for at least two full years… _years_! Hell: they had been in each other's lives for almost half as long as they had been alive on this mighty Earth! Yet, in none of that lengthy time period together had she ever envisioned chewing her nails at the thought of being in the same aircraft with him. Or at knowing that they would have to share a room for the next six weeks while pretending that their romantic relationship was still a thing.

 _"We'll just rent the entire penthouse of the hotels we stay in, Pepper. You can use the master bedroom, and I'll use the spare one. No one has to know,"_ Tony had told her earlier today, after the board members had left them alone in the meeting room. _"We'll make it work. I promise. We'll make it as pain-free as we can. Trust me, Pep."_

Ironically, she did trust him. She just did not trust _herself_.

 _Six weeks_ , she breathed deeply and closed her eyes after she sat in one of the chairs inside the jet. _Only six weeks. That's all._

Six weeks could be a short or a long time, depending on what the final outcome at the end of them was. They had engaged in much longer company-mandated travel projects than this one. This, in fact, was the shortest one they had ever embarked on together. Perhaps, she was making this be more than it really was. Perhaps, she was worrying over nothing at all. Perhaps, at some point during these six weeks, she would be able to make it clear to Tony that this break was meant to be permanent, for both their sakes and states of mind.

Yes; she could do this. She could totally do this. She had managed worse before. She had overcome more difficult situations than this particular one, time and time again, with a lot less authority than she had now. This was just an act – a charade. This was simply the world they lived in – as she had told him, just the day before. This was part of the business; part of the _dog and pony_ _show_ , and she did still have control over minor aspects of this trip, such as: deciding on short-term accommodations, the choosing of appropriate garments, and economizing the opportunities for being alone with him.

Plus, she knew that Tony, once a man who not only hardly ever took _no_ for an answer from a possible female companion, but hardly ever even _received_ it, respected her. _Truly_ respected her. And he would never do anything to her that she was not comfortable or agreeable with.

And this, this very aspect of the entire situation, was her one true problem: the fact that if something unexpected happened during this trip; if something _serious_ happened between them, it would be her fault and hers alone. She trusted that Tony would be able to control herself… unless it was her who was unable to do the same.

"Sorry I'm late," his smooth voice made her eyes snap open to watch him sit in the chair across from hers, a distraught look on his face.

Instinctively, Pepper eyed him up and down, searching for a sign of bodily injury on him, but she found none. Though he appeared to be physically fine and mostly recovered from the beating he received in his fight with Steve Rogers, she could tell that something _was_ off. He was not looking at her – his head was aimed towards the small window of the plane, and his gaze was lost in deep thought. He did not need to say much, however, for her to immediately know that he had bad news to relay to her, and that he was unsure how to start.

"Is it Rhodey?" she felt her stomach clench and her blood rush to her feet, not immediately recognizing that, if something bad had happened to their friend, he would have sent for her rather than actually making it to the plane.

She watched him gulp, shake his head, and she then swallowed hard when his eyes locked with hers. Whatever he was having a difficult time voicing, she was definitely not going to like.

"I just got off the phone with Mr. Abbiati," he shook the device in his hand.

"And?" Pepper's eyebrows rose.

"He…" Tony briefly closed is mouth and blew air from his nostrils. "I tried to talk him out of it. I really did, Pep."

"Talk him out of what?"

"I…" he looked at the ground between then, hunched his back, rested his arms on his knees, and then looked up again to witness her response. "We're staying at his house. The whole weekend we're gonna be there. In one of his guest rooms."

"We, _what_?" she shook her head in disbelief, "But we already have a reservation, and–"

"I know," he made a defensive gesture with his hands. "I told him that. But he… he-he said… in a non-direct manner, that us staying with him was part of what he was told by the Board would happen. It's… it's part of the deal. He won't fork over the signature for the investment if we don't stay with him."

"What does us staying in his guest room have _anything_ to do with the company deal?"

"He said something about how this was the way he did business," Tony grimaced. "Personally, I think he suspects we're no longer… well, you know."

"So, he wants to test his suspicion?"

"I guess so," Tony shrugged helplessly and then pressed his back against the seat.

"But," Pepper began with an exasperated sigh, but she then closed her mouth and eyes instead.

"I'm sorry, Pepper," he told her earnestly, his left palm on his chest. "I promised… I _know_ I promised that it would be pain-free, but–"

"Wouldn't be the first time," the acidic words left her mouth before she was able to stop them; coming out of her more out of anger with the situation than at him. "Broken promises are the only kind you seem to know."

It took her a mere half a second to realize what she had said; the cruel and uncalled for words she had spewed onto him, but it was half a second too late. Before she was able to try to take back the pain she knew she had unfairly bestowed upon him, Tony reacted instead.

"Not all of them," he stood up from the chair and began walking towards the sleeping quarters at the back of the plane. "Marrying you… that would've been a promise I would've kept."

Pepper opened her mouth to apologize to him, to ask him to stop walking away from her, but the slam of the door and a pile of regret was all she was left with.

xxxXXXxxx

He had spent the rest of the flight locked up in the sleeping quarters located at the back of the jet; all the while Pepper had been berating herself for her unforgiving and unkind words. It was not Tony's fault that the board members had promised the moon to their investors. It was not either of their faults that they had not been informed of the expectations that had been set by the Chairman of SI, either. But it _was_ her fault that Tony had decided to be cooped up in that tiny room for hours until they had landed. And it was _her_ fault that he was quiet and uncomfortable now.

"I'm sorry," her heavy-sounding words were followed by a light shake of his head.

"Don't know what you're sorry for," Tony cleared his throat. "You're right. I can never keep what I promise. Especially not to you."

"Tony, I–"

"You ready?" he interrupted her, laced her hand with his, and then plastered a fake smile on his face. "Smile, Potts."

The doors of the jet opened to reveal that the staircase had already been set for them, and that their hosts had been gracious enough to show up at the airport themselves. It was uncommon for the investors to leave their homes for something that they could assign someone else to do for them, making the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Abbiati at the hangar a little unnerving, to say the least.

Carefully, Tony led Pepper down the staircase, not once letting go of her hand, watching her every step to make sure she did not trip. When the couple finally made it to the ground, Tony briefly squeezed Pepper's hand to get her attention, and then swapped places with her without breaking their strides. It took her a moment to understand why he was suddenly switching laced hands, but she then realized that he needed his right hand to be free in order to shake hands with their hosts.

"We didn't expect to see you here, Mr. Abbiati. This is a pleasant surprise."

"This is a very important weekend for us, Mr. Stark," Piero Abbiati replied. "Miss Potts," the man said as he shook hands with the ginger, "Or should I say… _Mrs_. Stark?"

"Not yet," Pepper smiled as gracefully as possible despite the spike of pain that stabbed her heart, wondered how the couple before them even knew about Tony's intention to ask her to marry him, and then shook hands with the older woman.

"Oh," Alba Abbiati covered her mouth with her right hand after breaking the shake. "Did we spoil it? Did we just give it away?"

"Oh, no. Of course not," Pepper assured the woman. "He already popped the question."

"Oh, alright. Phew! I thought we had ruined the surprise," Alba fanned herself for a second before she furrowed her brow. "But, wait: where's the ring?"

"Hidden," Tony jumped in, "You know how it is. If word gets out of our engagement, the media won't leave us alone. I mean, they already don't… but, you know."

"Why, yes," Piero nodded. "High-profile weddings always attract so much unwanted attention. Next thing you know, you're being asked when you're having kids!"

"Right," Tony smiled. "Kids."

A quick, awkward silence lingered between the two couples before Pepper cleared her throat and placed her left hand on Tony's upper arm.

"Tony, do you want to drive, or should we let–"

"Nonsense!" Piero said with arms wide open, startling Pepper from finishing her words. "We brought our driver. You're riding with us! We aren't heading home just yet."

"Oh," Pepper gulped. "Well, let me make sure that the–"

"I'll get it, honey," Tony began, knowing what her statement was about to be. "Just save me a window seat. You know how I hate being crunched in the middle."

Tony followed his request with a chaste kiss to her forehead and a quick pat to her hand, before he then turned around in place and walked away from them to talk to their driver, all with the intention of asking him to place their travel bags in the back of Mr. Abbiati's vehicle. The exchange with the driver was quick and painless, and by the time he returned to the group, they were already inside the limousine.

"Was the flight alright?" Alba asked as soon as Tony slid inside the back seat.

"It must've been," Tony replied, his left arm now surrounding Pepper from the side. "I slept for most of it."

"It was an uneventful flight," Pepper added. "Hopefully, all of our travel will be like this."

"Of course," Piero nodded once. "And I'm glad that you had a chance to rest. We have a full day ahead of us."

"We do?" Tony spared Pepper a glance, noting that she was as shocked as he was about yet another surprise that was about to fall into their laps.

"Why, yes," Alba stated. "Didn't you get a copy of today's agenda?"

"It appears that there was a small breakdown in communication with our assistant," Pepper said in her most business-like tone of voice – one that she was known to use to cover the fact that she was fucking pissed as all get-out that no one had bothered to give any of them a heads up of what was to come.

"That's unfortunate," Piero said. "But I assure you: what we have in store will be fun."

"I wouldn't expect any less of this city," Tony said as his eyes took note of the familiar route they were taking before he locked eyes with the redhead. "Venice is one of my favorite places in the world."

"Why wouldn't it be?" Alba smirked at seeing the intense gaze the couple before them was sharing, perhaps even without being aware of it. "This _is_ the _City of Love_ , after all."

"Some would argue that that's Paris, Mrs. Abbiati," Tony grinned, his eyes still glued to Pepper's.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see, Mr. Stark," Piero added and then shared a furtive, knowing glance with his wife. "Just wait and see."

"Waiting is what I do best," Tony clasped Pepper's left shoulder with his hand and then pulled her closer to him. "You know, other than flying around in armored suits, avenging the unprotected and helpless, battling alien invaders and genocidal robots, waiting is how I spend my average day. Ain't that right, Pep?"

All Pepper could do at the moment was to nod and smile.

xxxXXXxxx

Saying that she was exhausted was the understatement of the year; probably on par with any sentence that stated that she was terrified of walking inside the bedroom she was supposed to be sharing with Tony Stark tonight. The day itself had proven to be overwhelmingly tiring, mostly due to the fact that she and Tony had been forced to pretend there was nothing different between them. She was not sure if Tony felt as drained as she felt with the acting they had been forced to execute throughout the many events and activities their hosts had planned for the day, but as far as she was concerned, she was ready to drop dead as soon as she was behind closed doors.

If she had been alone, that was.

And if, as her eyes were now sadly confirming for her, the room had had more than one bed.

Why did the Universe hate her so?

"Any chance you're too tired to care if we share the bed, Pep?"

Her eyes followed Tony as he walked past her standing form, grabbed her luggage from her hands, and then took all their travel bags with him inside the bathroom. Seconds later, the billionaire exited the facilities, eyed every single piece of furniture in their quarters, scratched the back of his neck, and then exhaled in defeat.

"The floor it is, then!"

"No," the word was out of her mouth before she could stop herself. "I mean: don't be ridiculous, Tony," she tried to sound nonchalant. "But I do call dibs on the shower."

"Of course," Tony smiled, nodded once, and then made a sweeping motion with his hand towards the entrance of the bathroom. "Ladies first."

"Thanks," her smile was as honest as it could be.

Tony waited until he heard his CEO lock the bathroom door from the inside before he sprawled his body atop the mattress, facing up. He rubbed his face with both of his hands, exhaling and inhaling deeply as he did so to gather his thoughts. Despite as physically fit as he knew himself to be, the day's events had left him more tired than he had felt after his latest outing as Iron Man. Who would have thought that a day with the Abbiati couple could match a day fighting Captain America and company?

Next time he saw the former Avenger, he would make sure to poke fun at his inability to make Iron Man beg for a place to sleep.

Then again, he was keenly aware that the activities in and of themselves had not been the sole cause for his fatigue. If he were to be honest with himself, he would admit that the true reason why he felt as if he had been dragged around the entire city as Hulk's personal ragdoll was because of the added energy he had expended pretending that his romantic relationship with Pepper was not left for dead in the gutter.

"Ugh," he extended his arms across the bed, fatigue making this situation that much more difficult for him. _And this is just the first day!_

Would they be able to survive this physical and emotional torture? They did have _six_ weeks of fake pleasantries ahead of them. What if ALL of their hosts decided to do the same as the Abbiati family? What if there was never a chance to be _off_ duty? What if their farce was discovered and the investors dumped them like yesterday's trash?

 _Why_ did they agree to go through with _this_?!

 _Because you needed to keep the investors happy_? His mind began listing the reasons for him. _Because you told the board your personal problems and issues would not interfere with your business performance? Because Pepper cares so much about supporting you and backing up your crazy, philanthropic ideas, that she knew she had to do this for you so that you could clean your fucking conscience?_

Oh, yeah. That was why. All of the above. Guilty as charged.

He inhaled deeply once more before he slid towards the edge of the mattress to sit by the foot of the bed, wanting to occupy his mind with something else. Thankfully for him, he heard the unmistakable sound of the shower being turned on, and he could not help to lose himself in a private second of bittersweet reminiscence. This was the first time in months that he did not share a shower stall with Pepper while having a clear opportunity to do so, and it _hurt_.

While he would have, without a second thought no less, given up his entire fortune, here and now, to have the right to join her there at this very instant inside the confined space she was currently using, it would have not been due to simple, uncontrolled lust on his part; and definitely not as an excuse to procure a chance to refresh his memory with the details of their encounters under the stream of water. Or for any other shallow or random reason that he had already many times before off-handedly thrown at her whenever she had questioned _his_ bare presence during _her_ shower time.

No.

He would have not used any of those petty pretexts he had uttered in the past with the simple goal of getting a smile out of her. If he had the chance to jump in there right now, he would tell her that he had wanted to join her because, despite spending the entire day together, he _missed_ her.

 _Missed_ her.

Utterly missed _her_. Even while standing next to her all day today, he _missed_ her.

All of her. Every inch of her. Freckles and all.

And also because he was not sure how much longer he would be able to stand having her near him, holding hands, embracing her, whispering in her ear, without being able to _truly_ share a bed at night with her.

Curse all of the higher-powered entities in the universe. He was screwed.

And not in the way he wanted to be.

 _Could this day get any worse?_

Evidently, it could.

"It's all yours," Pepper's voice made him jump inside his skin; his face turning red at the thought of the ginger being able to read his mind.

"OK. Thanks. Bye," he practically sprung off the bed, without sparing her a second glance to avoid her seeing his mortified expression, and then all but slammed the door on his way inside the facilities.

"You're welcome," Pepper whispered, brow wrinkled in confusion at his actions, her back to him, and wondering how the hell she was going to survive the night sleeping next to him.

xxxXXXxxx

It was 3:00 AM, and she was not at all surprised when she turned around in bed to lie on her left side and saw that Tony was also wide awake, his current posture a mirror image of hers. His eyes were aimed at her face, but she knew that he had not been _actually_ staring at her back the entire time. He had a look on his face whose origin she easily recognized after knowing him for so long – an expression of confusion, uncertainty, and pain that shook her to the core.

"Hey," she whispered, feeling the weight of the world resting on her shoulders as much as she could tell he felt as well.

"Hey back," he replied, his expression remaining thoughtful.

"You should get some sleep, Tony. The agenda for tomorrow – today, is worse than yesterday."

"You should, too," he dared to briefly run his left hand down her cheek, his caress tender despite his stern face. "And let's pick up some sunscreen for you, OK? Another day outside and you'll start peeling soon."

"I'll be fine," she rolled her eyes.

"No, you won't," his tone of voice was turning authoritative, igniting in her a need to be defiant.

"Yes. I will," she said between gritted teeth.

"Your skin is very sensitive, Potts."

"It's not _that_ sensitive."

"Bullshit! I've seen it peel _and_ bleed after only two days of being exposed to the sun. I'm not letting that happen again!"

She instantly pursed her lips, unable to deny his claim. Of _course_ he would remember that particular scary incident related to her innate skin condition that he had once witnessed after spending a weekend at a private beach. That night, he had woken up every highly-regarded dermatologist around the country to demand they immediately came to their hotel room to check up on her.

She had to make sure _that_ did not happen again.

"Stop worrying about me, Tony," she emphasized her command by slightly lifting her body and resting her torso's weight on her bent left arm.

"I can't," his response was immediate and he too used his right arm to prop himself up. Whatever had kept him up all night, and whatever he was feeling right now, was intense enough for him to refuse to back down from this trivial fight. "You know I can't."

She leaned closer to him, hoping that their whispered argument went unnoticed by their hosts.

"Tony–"

"Can you?" he leaned towards her as well, their faces a foot away from each other.

"Can I, what?"

"Not worry about me? Because if you can, you're gonna have teach me how to do that. Show me how easy it is _not_ to worry about the woman I love."

"Tony," she closed her eyes and shook her head. "Let's not–"

"I love you," he slid the tiniest bit closer to her, dying to hold her, his face now inches from hers. "We may be apart. Pretending that we're not. I'm giving you some space… But I still love you. You know how much I still love you, Pepper. I'm doing everything I can… everything you've asked of me for this break to work, but… Do you even… I mean… Are you even still looking forward to us one day–"

"I love you," she opened her eyes to stare at his, hoping their exchange stopped heading towards the road where she could see it going. "I _do_ still love you, Tony. Why do you think I'm here, doing this?"

"Then don't tell me not to worry, Pep."

She inhaled slowly and exhaled in broken sighs, closing her eyes again when she felt his left hand cup the side of her face.

"Tony… I…"

"And tell me to stop," his husky voice made her gulp. "Tell me… to stop…"

She opened her eyes halfway, knowing ahead of time what she was going to see. She did not have to open them completely to know his face was closing in on hers – his breath tickling her slightly parted lips told her all she needed to know. Despite her mind screaming for her to do what he had just told her to do – to say the words that would make him halt his efforts, she was unable to find her voice.

It was happening, what she had feared would take place, was finally coming to pass: she allowing him to do whatever he wanted to her.

It had been too long since she had tasted his lips; since she had felt his trademark goatee prickle her face. It had been too damn long since he had nipped at her lips and traced them with his tongue, begging for entrance, as he was doing just now.

She gasped when she felt the familiar sensation of him exploring the inside of her mouth, and of his hands gliding up and down her face. She would never say it aloud, and especially not to him, but even now she wondered how he always managed to disarm her like this. How was it possible that, at their age, he still managed to make her feel like a trembling teenager experiencing her first real kiss? How was he able to set her skin on fire by just staring at her?

She was not blind or stupid – she knew he had had _plenty_ of experience in this arena before she had come along. While being his personal assistant, she had been tasked; many times in fact, with escorting his _experience_ away from his bed and out the door. She was aware of his _Don Juan_ reputation – and she had come to learn that all of it was true – but it still never ceased to amaze her how this former playboy made her weak in the knees without resorting to the techniques that had once before made her roll her eyes when witnessing them being used on his prey.

"I love you," he said between kisses, his hands now roaming towards other areas of her body as he began pressing her back onto the bed, setting off all kinds of alarms within her.

"T-Tony–"

"Pepper," his lips started trailing down her neck, "Let's stop wasting time. I need you. I miss you. I want you. Let me show you that–"

"Stop!" her body froze. "Tony, please, stop!"

Tony swallowed hard, lifted his head to stare at her face, and then felt his heart drop at what he saw. She was shaking beneath him, her eyes wide in fear. He tried to run his hand down her face once more, if just to apologize without words, but watching her flinch even before he was close enough crushed his soul.

"I'm sorry," he pulled back, rolled away from her, and then got up from the bed.

"Tony, wait!" Pepper's legs slid to the edge of the bed, and she looked at the floor to search for her slippers. "Tony, stop! Where are you going?"

But when she looked up, he was already out the door.

xxxXXXxxx

It was not until he ended up in the dark hall, having no clue where to go, that Tony Stark realized how stupid it had been to walk out on Pepper. They were not home, or anywhere that was familiar to either of them – or somewhere were privacy for their fights was present. Yet, what was he supposed to do after the carrot had been dangled in front of him, tantalizingly so, only to find out it was made of plastic? What would a man in his position be expected to do when the woman he loved melted at his touch one moment, only to almost instantly thereafter push him away?

For no good apparent reason, other than mild confusion, it seemed?

She loved him. She, of course, still _loved_ him. She had said so herself. He had heard it with his own two ears, straight out of her mouth. Love was not the issue. Love between _them_ had never been the issue, he knew. She had told him it had been something else. Something more. Something that was much more complex and almost difficult to accurately quantify. It had been his lies. His flip-flopping attitude about his superhero persona. His half-truths of his intentions when saving the world. His inability to keep his promises to her.

That was what she had said was the real problem, right?

Nevertheless, right now, lost in deep thought, as their intimate moment and words kept replaying in his mind, he was starting to wonder if _he_ had not been the _only_ one relaying disguised truths to the other. He could not help but suspect that Pepper was also in the business of protecting him from pain by doing the same thing he did for her: lying his ass off.

If love was not the problem, and the attitude of not sharing all the facts was mutual, then what was really building this Grand Canyon between them? What was it that she was keeping from him? What had she done that she would not share with him? Why would she not trust him enough to share the truth with him?

For better or for worse, Tony Stark was currently feeling a taste of his own bitter medicine. Not surprisingly, he did not like it one bit.

"Looking for something, Mr. Stark?"

 _The truth_ , his mind snapped back but he kept his lips pursed for a moment longer.

"Mr. Abbiati," Tony plastered his best fake smile before turning around in place and facing his host. "I was hoping to find the kitchen. Pepper's thirsty."

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I thought I'd given you our housekeeper's number!"

"No, but… I mean. It's just water. And it's late. I can get it myself."

"It _is_ late, isn't?" Piero looked at an invisible watch on his left wrist. "Well then, I'll take you to the kitchen. Follow me."

"Oh, no. Please, don't worry about it. Just point me in the right direction and I'll–"

"Nonsense, Tony," Piero replied and waved over the younger man to tag along. "Come on. Let me be a good host."

Holding back an exasperated sigh, and after running a hand down his face, the billionaire reluctantly followed the man around his home, turning one too many times that Tony did not care to count. He only had to be here two more days to seal the deal and then be on their merry way to their next stop. He really could not care less if he was unable to find the kitchen ever again.

"Cold or room temperature?"

"Both," Tony instantly replied and he was then handed one bottle of water for each of his requests. He then walked over to the counter and quickly got to work. He knew that his redhead had not asked for a drink, but he knew her too well to know that she tended to chug down an entire bottle of water when she was upset. He was not sure why she did it, but she did. And he knew she was very upset right now.

Piero curiously and silently watched the inventor open up the cold water bottle, chug down about half of it, and then fill it up again with the room temperature water. He then sealed the mixed water bottle and shook it in his hand a little bit to make sure the two temperatures blended into something that was neither cold nor warm. When the genius finally looked up to thank the investor, the look of confusion on Abbiati's face made him shrug.

"Pepper has sensitive teeth. This is how she likes her water."

"Ah," Piero smiled. "That explains it."

"Yup," Tony cleared his throat and began walking towards what he hoped was the exit of the kitchen, both bottles in hand. "Anyway, I should get back to our room. Thank you for the water and the tour."

"No problem, Mr. Stark," Piero calmly replied before he paused for an instant, turned around in place, and then made Tony stop in his tracks when he heard his name being called one more time.

"Yes?"

"Before you leave, I have a question for you."

"Sure."

"When did you two break up?"

Tony almost dropped the water bottles at the unexpected inquiry.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You and Ms. Potts. When did you end the relationship?"

Tony inwardly cursed, took in a deep breath, and then faced the keenly aware man with a grimace. He debated on whether he should just lie his ass out of the situation, if not for any reason other than to keep up his end of the deal with the Stark Industries board. However, when Piero tilted his head to the side and got comfortable by resting his hip against the counter where Tony had just been playing mad scientist with water-filled containers, the billionaire knew only the truth would do.

He scratched the back of his neck, flared his nostrils, and then shrugged in defeat as he spoke.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Painfully so."

"I thought we were good actors," Tony half-smirked.

"Only to those who haven't played the role before."

It took Tony a moment to process the man's words, but once the message clicked in his head, the genius became more intrigued than he would admit himself to be.

Lies, apparently, where everywhere he happened to be.

"Think Ms. Potts would mind waiting for her water?"

"No," Tony eyed the bottle in his left hand, understanding a serious talk was about to take place. "I don't think she'll mind at all."

xxxXXXxxx

The silence between the two men extended more than what Tony could help to bear; longer that what he felt comfortable with, while the billionaire watched the older man prepare himself what appeared to be tea. He did not like silences – let alone long, _awkward_ silences; and he was receiving both right now. He truly felt caught between a rock and hard place – Pepper waiting back in their room being the rock, and Mr. Abbiati knowing the truth and wanting an explanation for the lies being the hard place.

And this was not taking into consideration the repercussions of Piero telling the rest of the investors about their little charade. Or the members of the SI board finding out he and Pepper had ruined the _one_ job they had been tasked to complete.

It was only the second day of their trip here, and they were already royally fucked.

"Look, Piero," Tony scratched his neck in anxiety, wanting to find either a way to run out of the situation as soon as possible, or a way to mend what had already been done, "We're both businessmen. We know how this show goes. I… I'm terribly sorry for misleading you, though. I really am."

"I am quite familiar with the show," Piero sat on the opposite end of the middle island in the kitchen and began dunking a tea bag inside a cup filled with hot water. "Been there. Done that."

Tony rested his head on his upturned left hand and tapped the counter with the fingers on his right hand.

"You and the Missus, I presume?" Tony asked.

"Yeah," Piero stared at his steaming tea cup. "A year ago, actually. We… we're going to get a divorce."

"Huh," Tony felt a little bit more relaxed with the situation. He had not heard about this from the media, or anyone else, for that matter. It was possible that he could still salvage the situation, after all. "I'm sorry to hear that happened to you. But you two seemed very happy now. I guess you worked things out?"

"Not by choice," Piero admitted. "We were already separated. We had met with attorneys… we were about to start the paperwork. But then we didn't go through it. We realized that… that it was stupid. Our supposed differences weren't really just that. We were just being petty. _Incredibly_ petty."

"How did you fix it?" Tony looked Piero in the eye.

"We didn't. Life did it for us."

"Business issues?"

"No," Piero looked at his tea and took a sip of it. "A routine visit to the doctor put things into perspective for me. For us."

Tony slowly straightened his back and eyed the man up and down, looking for signs of illness. He then looked over his shoulder and towards the exit, hoping what he was learning was not being overheard by anyone who should not be privy to what he knew the man was about to confess aloud.

"She knows," Piero replied, as if reading Tony's concerns. "The doctor didn't know we were separated. He called me. I didn't answer. So he called her and told her," Piero scoffed. "She would've never known otherwise. I would've never told her."

"Treatment?"

Piero shook his head.

"Not one that I cared to try," the Italian businessman admitted. "She wanted me to do it at least once. It's still experimental, but I opted out of the trial."

"Why?"

"I want her to remember me like this. Like the man she knew her entire life. Not like a walking corpse carrying a ticking time bomb in a chemotherapy bag."

Tony's head hung and he gulped.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Piero. I'm sorry for all of this, actually," Tony slowly stood up, shame written all over his face. "This sham is probably not what you want to deal with right now. We… we understand your options. We respect them. Pepper and I… we'll just see ourselves out. And, if there's anything I can do to help you: please let us know. Pepper has connections with the best doctors in the world. And I have a suit of armor that can make them cooperate, if Pepper's diplomacy attempts fail."

Despite the grim topic, Piero Abbiati laughed aloud.

"I appreciate that, Tony. I really do. But you don't need to go anywhere. Not yet, at least."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Business. We still need to talk business. That's what you're here for, right?"

"I am. We are. We were. I don't understand."

"Please, sit," Piero pointed to the stool and Tony did as told. "You know, when I was a lot younger, I used to meet up with your father, quite often. We had a few very profitable business partnerships. And we had similar working styles. But then, when he married Maria, he changed. And then, once he had you, he changed again."

Tony uncomfortably glanced towards Piero, wondering what the man was getting at. Whatever it was, Tony hoped he got to the point soon. The pain that came with thinking about his parents and how they had been killed was something he was yet to share with anyone… other than Rogers and Barnes, and he had shared with them exactly how he had felt with his fists and repulsors. He had far too many unresolved issues that had suddenly piled up onto him in the last few months; one after the other – and he sensed that he was about to have one more.

"His _focus_ in life changed," Piero continued. "He went from thinking about the next big invention, to thinking about the next big idea to improve people's lives. Ideas to leave you a better world. I didn't understand him then, so we drifted apart. I actually didn't really see what he was seeing until my less-than-ideal diagnosis. The idea of legacy was never very high up in my books. That is why I don't have any children. Though I wish I did. But, I think that there's a reason, one decided by something higher than any of us, for me to not have children while Howard Stark did."

"Are you trying to adopt me?" Tony smiled, hoping that his attempt at humor yielded the expected results.

"In a sense," Piero nodded. "I have a lot that I'll leave behind very soon. I want to make sure it all gets used in the best of ways."

"We can help with that," Tony nodded. "Pepper knows some very reputable organizations that would ensure that your trust fund and estates are–"

"No, Tony. You misunderstand. I don't want to simply donate to some random charities. I want _you_ to take over my company. Not Stark Industries. Not it's board members. You. And Miss Potts. Whether you're together or not. I don't want the inheritance I've built over the years in the hands of someone that won't use it for the betterment of mankind. I know you're the person to make sure that doesn't happen. You did it with you father's company. You did it with your own life. You did it with the Avengers. There's just… there's only one thing I ask in return."

"What is that?"

"My wife," Piero's eyes began to glisten. "I want you to promise you'll take care of my wife."

"I promise," Tony replied without missing a beat, knowing where the man's concern was coming from. "I will."

"I know you do," Piero retorted, a sad yet hopeful smile on his face. "I know you will, son."

* * *

 **Thank you for favoring the story:** _arb5710_ and _Pythonx_.

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 **Arb5710: I hardly comment on stories but I just want to say thanks for continuing the Pepperony. I was very upset when I saw "Civil War," and found out their relationship was "taking a break." You're doing a fabulous job! I am thoroughly enjoying your story and can't wait to read what else happens.** – You are very welcome! Thank heavens for fanfics, huh? I don't know how else I'd be coping with this!

 **Leighton: Ah I can't wait for this story to unfold! I love Pepperony, and was so disappointed to find out they are "on a break" in Civil War. I think you've really nailed the characters! Can't wait for more :)** –Thank you! It's been years since I last wrote for MCU Iron Man; I'm still trying to get into the "character" as much as I can/should. So I really appreciate that you see them be in character so far ^_^

 **Guest: I wanted a kiss! Damn it, haha. Please update soon.** –LOLZ! We'll get there, my Faithful Reader.

 **MarieLecter: (Please, do not resent me for my mistakes. I read a lot in English [well only in English] since 2012 but I still got some problem... it's not me, it's because I'm French! I was born in the wrong country! ahah) Anyway! Oh dear... you know this story is suppose to help me deal with their breaking! Not making me feel sad all over again! "Non, je déconne!" (No, I'm kidding) as we say in French. I can't ask for a fairytale or it wouldn't be a Pepperony fic... too boring! But pleeeease! I'm dying here! Don't make us wait too long! And thank you for your answer, I wasn't expecting one :)** –Psh, girl! No worries! English isn't even my first language: it's Spanish! And LOL! I know the story is kind sad right now, but it'll get better in a couple of chapters or so… or as better as our broken-up couple can be XD But hey! They'll end up back together. That is for sure!

 **Guest: God, I love your stories. This is great, I can wait for your next chapter. Thank you so much for this** – Hi! I take it you were here when I was writing _Man in a Can_? I miss writing for regular Iron Man! And you are very welcome! Thank you for reading and reviewing! 😃

 **Guest: esta genial el fic, no demores en actualizar porfavorrrr...** – Disculpa la demora, pero aquí está un capitulo nuevo. Espero que te guste. :( Gracias por leer y comentar :D

 **Guest: Please post again soon! Loving this!** – Here's another update! Hope you love this one, too!

 **Guest: Thanks for the new chapter! It's great, but way too short( How long are you going to make this fic? –** Yeah, sorry :( I typically have my fics planned out before I post them, but this one is a little bit different. I have a vague idea of how I want it to go, but I'm not sure how long it will take to get there. This is kinda why the chapters are short, too. I don't want to get too ahead of myself if I'm not quite sure yet how the story will pan out.

 **Carito: Hermoso, como siempre. I can hardly wait for the next chapter. Thank you -** ¡Gracias! ^_^ Here' another chappie for you :D

 **MarieLecter: (Sorry for not reviewing lately, work take all my time ) I really want to know what happened because I need to be mad at someone... (poor Pepper, for now it is her I'm mad at! lol) The only thing I think when I read your story is "what if it IS the truth?!" It is really a good story, keep going! :) –** Ugh! Work is EVIL! On Wednesday, I worked from 6AM until 1AM. _Why_ do we have to work? I'd much rather spend my days writing Pepperony fluff. Why isn't writing Pepperony a job? XD LOL! I think being mad at Pepper is the way to go for now. Later… well… I think we'll be blaming nature :P Thank you for your encouragement and continued support ^_^

 **Guest: This was great. I'm dying to know what happens next. –** Thank you! I hope you like where this is going right now!

 **Thank you for the favorites/follows:** _blottedpen23_ , _subu2015_ , _Morgan Champion_ , _ladytimberwolf_ , _KymEsk_ , _ayaaz333_ , _MrGuru_ , _Tan-Sky_ , _KaySab_ , _AsgardsValkyrie_ , _GinnyandHarry14_ , _lorrie1974_ , _chellek23_ , _katielove82_ , _feffarica_ , _Taiski_ , _Sharon 64_ , _.391_ , _csigal1976_ , _Phoenixchix86_ , _NoFate2608_ , and _rriicpol_.

 **Guest: Cant wait the next chapter, pls keep updating ! –** Thank you! Here's another chappie for you :D

 **Pepperonyaddict: please update sooooon! I am so excited! THIS IS SO GOOOD! Thank you so much Miss Starfire for this! Fanfiction is the only thing that makes my Pepperony heart happy.. :(** \- Thank YOU for your support! Nothing makes a bad day at work feel better than an email notification of a review :D THANK YOU!

 **Guest: OMG U NEEEEEEED TO POST THE NEXT CHAPTER ASAP plsss. I love this and honestly not gonna lie i cried about their "break" watching CA:CW** – I am not looking forward to buying CA:CW when it comes out. All I keep picturing is Tony's face when he reads the teleprompt and Pepper's name is there.

 **Guest: The love** – YES! You just want to grab their necks and bonk their faces together until they kiss, right? PEPPERONY FOREVER!

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 **Keep it up! You're doing a great job. :)** – Thank you ^_^

 **KymEsk: Hi. Let me congratulate you on this great fic. Forgive my bad English, I speak Spanish, I am Mexican. I'm honestly very upset with the separation of the couple. I really hate the idea that Tony might have a romance with Aunt May. I would not want that to happen, my mind can not accept. I 'm waiting for the resolution in the upcoming films, not if they are to leave as well as Jane and Thor. Meanwhile let me tell you that I love this story, I will not miss me, I'm always on the lookout for updates. I hope that the other chapters are longer.** – ¡Muchas gracias, Paisana! ¿De dónde eres? Yo soy de Tamaulipas. ¡Arriba el Norte! Yo estoy que me lleva el tren por eso. ¿En qué cabeza cabe separarlos? Digo, son la pareja más real de todas, y salen con que: "¡Oops! ¡Cortaron!" De 'veras que si salen con esa tontería de que Tony y Aunt May son pareja, ni crean que voy a pagar mis $15 para ver esa película. Ahorita no tengo planes de hacer los capítulos de esta historia más largos, simplemente porque tengo otros fics pendientes, y porque aún no tengo esta historia muy bien detallada. Espero que en cuanto termine otra historia que tengo que esta súper larga, y que el verano termine, que tenga más tiempo para actualizar más seguido. ¡Gracias por tu review! :D

 **Guest: Nice to find a fic not filled with Cap love... had to quickly flee the Avengers archive. (Speaking of... why not an Ironman movies archive?) Might have to go rewatch the Beyond the Trailer review just to further remind myself that I'm not alone in how I felt in that movie...** – LOL Cap love? I haven't ventured into reading any of the stories in the Marvel sections here for a long time (probably shortly after I finished my own Iron Man fics, years ago). What are they writing? Hopefully not hating on Pepper :(

 **Guest: Hey when will u post further** – Don't know when I'll post again after this, but here's an update for you all :D

 **Guest: Please post again soon! I hope they get together!** – They will! And I already know how… I think you're gonna like it when it does happen.

 **Guest: Missing your update chapter. Don't leave us hanging please** – SORRRRRYYYY! Here's another chappie. Hope it makes up for the long wait.

 **Thank you for the favorites/follows:** _Abi-chan_ , _KeepFaith-SmellApples_ , _gabiramir_ , _GalanthaDreams_ , _ishotudown_ , _star445_ , _PocketDuelMonsters_ , _No Big Deal_ , _Cacao85_ , _Reading98_ , _Marmar975_ , _CarlinAiki_ , _Pythonx_ , _Stark05_ , _girly1026_ , _nuane_ , _emka1313_ , _RunForYourLife_ , and _Silver Cherry Blossom_.

 **Guest: Perdona envir mal el otro review. Soy del DF y etsoy molesta por está situación. Me enamoré de ésta pareja. Cuando vi Civil War no sabía nada de Marvel, después vi Iron Man (las 3) y me enamoré. Ahí fue cuando entendí la magnitud del rompimiento. No es justo y lo de la tía May se me hace absurdo. No lo creo. Cmo estudiante de Teatro se me hace un método barato y sin chiste. Espero. Que vuelvan. Esa es mi fantasía. Te felicito por este fanfc en español. Gracias.** – ¡Ni se diga! ¿En qué cabeza cabe esa barbaridad? Después de todo lo que han pasado juntos, se les ocurre separarlos. Como dices tú: no tiene sentido alguno, en especial si piensan hacerlo permanente. Entiendo que para que la película de Civil War tuviera más sentido, los separaran un ratito. Pero los hubieran reunido al final, ¿verdad? Pero bueno. Que le hacemos más que escribir nuestras penas y arreglarlas así :P

 **Guest: Wow nice chap plzzz post futher yarrrr** – Thank you so much for your review and patience. Here's the next chapter!

 **Guest: Damn this chapter was so good! Please update again soon! -** Sorry about the delay. Work has calmed down, though :D Which means (I hope), weekly updates from now on!

 **MarieLecter: Hello! Sorry I couldn't review for the last chapter :/ I think you're going to give me a heart attack soon! My poor little heart can't deal with this roller coaster of emotions! Haha Seriously, when Pepper says 'stop' I was imagining the scene at the end of 'Hannibal' [have you seen the movie? I loooove it! ;) ] when Hannibal Lecter(Sir Hopkins) get Clarice Starling's(J. Moore) hair in the fridge door and tells her 'Tell me Clarice, would you ever say to me "Stop. If you loved me, you'd stop"?' I don't know why... maybe it's the 'stop' or maybe it's because they know they can't but they still want to (because love is sooo easy -" ) I'm rambling, sorry.**

 **Keep writing, I am absolutely fan of your fic! -** I DID! I think. That's the movie with the "inside or outside" line, right? Where a guy ends up hanging from a building, his guts spilled? I can tell you, though, that Pepper is pushing him away for a reason. But that won't last long ;)

 **dandelion: Love this! Can't get enough of tony/pepper and was really sad about what happend in civil war :( Hope you will fix their problems sooner or later ;) Please keep going. -** Thank you! I think they're going to be in a better place for the next few chapters. But then… coughcough… things are going to start coming out to the light.

 **saltedcaramel: I was looking forward to Civil War because I thought there was bound to be some Pepperony. Got the opposite. Thanks for writing this.** – UGH! Tell me about it! I feel so Pepperony deprived! I can't get enough of those two. They better be back together for Infinity War.

 **Guest: PLEASE UPDATE! DONT LEAVE US HANGING LIKE THIS! THIS STORY IS SO GOOD YET SO SAD. I LOVE IT. THE FEELS VSIDKCUOW.** – Sorry about the loooooong wait Here's a nicer chappie, I think :D

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 **MarieLecter: Hello! Oh this tension... seriously I'm going mad! As usual : Can't wait for the next chap! P.S: that's the movie! usually, people remember mostly the 'brain scene' but the 'bowels in or bowels out' is not bad either ;) –** That bowels scenes was my favorite. The brain one… I think I blocked it out of _my_ brain :P

 **Stark13: Si happy to read you again ! Can't wait for more. Update soon please** – Thank you for reading and reviewing! I got C:CW on iTunes this weekend. This means plenty of inspiration and material for me to continue writing this for you all :D


	3. Chapter 2: Venice

**Guest Review Responses**

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* * *

 **Chapter 2: Venice**

The rattling of the handle made her run towards the door. Before she got to it, however, Tony had already come inside the room and had closed the door behind him. Pepper overlapped her palms against her chest, tried to read his facial features to maybe anticipate another possible spat, but she was then surprised with what he did instead.

"Water?" he handed her the bottle in his hands and she frowned.

"Uhm, thanks?" she grabbed said bottle from him and then stared at his form as he walked past her to sit by the foot of the bed.

She alternated between looking at his pensive face and then at the bottle in her hands, uncertain as to how to proceed. He had stormed out of the room, had been gone for a long time, had come back with water for her for no apparent reason, and his current reaction was not one that she had expected of him. Living almost half of her life with this man had made her learn how to manage his bouts of anger, lechery, drunkenness, and problem-solving obsession. Yet, when it came down to his open moments of uncertainty – being so few and far between – she was always left wondering what to do next.

She swallowed hard, cleared her throat, and then drank half of the contents in the bottle before he spoke again.

"Do you ever think about death?"

 _Oh, God!_ _What did he do to our hosts?!_

Pepper braced herself to be hit by a rogue wave.

"Should I call Roberta?" Pepper calmly asked as she sat to his left, her eyes on his lost ones. Roberta Rhodes was their attorney and close family friend – who also happened to be James Rhodes' mother.

"I've been thinking about it a lot lately," he continued the conversation as if she had just not asked him a very serious question. "I've been thinking about Mom and Dad. About all the people that have died during Avengers missions… About Rhodey almost dying and ending up being paralyzed. Death is everywhere, Pep. It's the one real equalizer, I guess."

This was not news to her, in the least. She _knew_ what death was. She had stared at it in the face more times than she cared to count. In fact, one particularly recent occurrence of it came to mind.

"Piero is dying," he said without further ado, his eyes now on her shocked face. "He has terminal cancer. Has three months to live, tops."

"He… _what_?"

"He wants to give us his company. You and me, I mean. Not Stark Industries, just us."

"In exchange for what?"

"Taking care of his legacy, and his wife, after he's gone."

"Why us? I mean, there must a family member that can inherit his fortune. Many charities would be more than happy to–"

"Are you really going to question the wishes of a dying man?"

"No," Pepper sighed. "I guess not."

Silence surrounded them once more, both of them caught in their differing thoughts. After another minute or so of quiet deliberation, Tony grabbed Pepper's right hand in both of his and tenderly kissed the back of it.

"I'm sorry," he half-smiled and she tilted her head to the side in curiosity. "I won't ask you to talk about us anymore. I won't even expect us to get back together after this. I know this isn't easy for you either, but know that it's _twice_ as hard for me, though. I'm still learning how to cope with it. Be patient with me, please."

Pepper knew that he was telling her this more than just so that she could feel better about their current predicament. Yet somehow, it was having the completely opposite effect on her. However, this was _not_ the time to talk about her feelings of doubt and regret. This was about processing the news of their hosts that she had just received. Pepper knew how important the concept of legacy was for Tony – he had almost killed himself when he had believed he was going to die of palladium poisoning. She knew that finding out about Piero's predicament had hit a sore spot for him.

"Does she know? Does _Alba_ know?"

"She does."

"Oh, Jesus," Pepper covered her mouth with her hand. "I may have made some very inappropriate comments to her yesterday."

"You did? Such as?"

"Not insults, mind you, nothing rude. Just some questions and comments that assumed Piero would be around next year."

Tony flinched and Pepper groaned.

"You didn't know, Pep," he offered but she shook her head.

"Yes, I know. But this is exactly what happens when people lie. Other people get hurt. No one ever wins when lies are told."

"Can you blame them for it, though? They're trying to protect their interest. Just like we're lying to protect ours."

"I…" she closed her eyes and exhaled as she realized that she must have been more exhausted than she thought she was. Tony Stark was currently being more sensible and was making more sense than she.

"Needless to say, he wants to keep it this way until he's gone. He just wants peace and quiet during the last days of his life. I can understand that. Can you?"

"Yes, of course I can," she was taken aback by his veiled accusation of callousness on her part, but she did not feel like arguing about it right now. It was not as if she did not understand the gravity of the situation at hand – it was just hitting her too close to home.

 _But he doesn't know._

"Then let's not talk about it again, OK?" he said as he patted her left knee twice before he got up. "And let's go to bed."

A single nod was her only response before she got up as well.

They silently and mechanically returned to their sides of the mattress, covered their bodies with the blankets, and then stared at the ceiling while sleep slowly took over them. In the back of her mind, she could hear Tony spewing out random thoughts about death and legacy, and about how he needed to start making plans of his own as well. His comments did not need any response from her end, but she nodded along with them anyway.

"Can you imagine what Alba must be going through now, knowing that one day she'll wake up and her husband won't be there?"

Pepper, in the morrow, would forget this being the last thing Tony had asked her as part of their pillow talk. And Tony, who had not really expected an answer from her, would never forget what she replied to him either way.

"I can," she mumbled to him, eyes closed and half-asleep. "I dreaded that myself every day, when I was with you."

Tony's eyes landed on her now slumbering form; one of the many reasons why Pepper had broken it off with him becoming that much more obvious to him.

xxxXXXxxx

 _She watched in awe as their home crumbled into the Pacific Ocean, leaving nothing behind but the memory of it. From all the ways she had ever expected 10880 Malibu Point to disappear from the map, being blown up by a terrorist had not even made the list. She had believed it to be more likely the result of one of Tony's experiments going wrong and disintegrating the structure, but she appeared to have been quite incorrect in her assumptions._

 _Then again, she should have been expecting this. She was dating a superhero, after all._

 _"Tony!"_

 _There was still one chopper left, but the damage seemed to have been done already. She strained her eyes as she looked down at the vast, deep sea, hoping to see a speck of red and gold come to the surface, only to find none. The last chopper circled the same area, waiting for her hero to come out of what looked like certain death. She was torn between wanting to see Tony alive, and being there to see him get blasted to pieces by whatever other weapons the helicopter had at hand._

 _ **Tony**_ _, she felt tears filling up her eyes._ _ **Oh, Tony! Please be alright!**_

 _Unfortunately, after five minutes of stillness in the waters, the chopper finally left her there, taking all of her hope with it._

She woke up with a start and immediately sat up. She pressed her right hand against her racing heart and held her body's weight with her left hand on the bed. She breathed so loudly and hard that her lungs and throat complained. Her body shook uncontrollably, as if it was being exposed to extremely frigid conditions. She felt dried tears pulling at the skin on her face and new ones starting to form. She was in a state of complete shock even though she knew that what she had experienced was just a nightmare – a recurring one, in fact – but that did not stop her from panicking even more when she turned to her left and saw that Tony was gone.

 _Tony?_ She gulped and threw the blankets from her legs. "Tony?!"

She ran towards the bathroom and slammed it open, but she found it to be as empty as it could be. She even checked the shower and the closets, but nothing she found there calmed her fears. She then ran out the door and into the hall, stared left and right, heard voices coming from one end of the hall, and then finally realized that she was overreacting to a stupid dream.

She was not home. She was in Venice. And _she_ was here because _Tony_ was here; alive _and_ well.

 _Alive_ , she reminded herself. _He's OK. He's alive._

She closed her eyes, covered her face with her hands, and then exhaled deeply and slowly to calm her nerves. She could feel her heart bit by bit returning to a normal beat. The echoing of laughter and voices were like a balm to her soul. She could actually smell Tony's cologne on her – perhaps transferred onto her when they had kissed the night before, and this last fact alone made her feel some peace.

There was nothing to worry about anymore. It had just been a scare. Just as every other nightmare of him dying had always been. He was here to stay. He was here to continue saving the world, time and time again.

"Honey, are you OK?"

She partly slid her hands down from her face so that only her eyes would be uncovered, and she silently watched as Tony gently approached her, measuring his steps as if he was afraid he would scare her. He was fully dressed, eyeing her with visible concern, and stopped his trek when he was but a foot away from her. He tilted his head to the side, carefully pulled one of her hands from her face, and then frowned when he saw the clear signs that she had been recently crying or extremely scared.

Her skin was so fair that even the smallest of tears or feelings of anger made her freckles flare. Her nose and eyes always became red and puffy, even with just a simple yawn. But he had learned, in their many years together, to distinguish between the aftermath of a yawn and the aftermath of a full-on rampage of waterworks. This was clearly the toll of the latter.

"Pepper, what's wrong?" he pulled her other hand from her face and held them both in his. "Are you in pain?"

"No," she looked up at him and shook her head. "I'm fine. Just bad dreams. That's all."

He frowned, opened his mouth to question her more, but then remembered that he had promised to behave. He knew that, as her friend, it was alright to question her answer and probe more for the real reason for her distress. But he was also aware that he had to give it time for his actions and words to be seen as nothing more than the result of concerned friendship and not of a lover's care. It would take him some time to adjust to the new situation, but he was certain that, one day, he would be able to embrace his redhead without worrying about her misreading his intentions or wondering if he was being fake.

Today, however, was not that day.

"We're having lunch. Want to come?"

"Lunch?" her eyes opened wide. "What time is it?"

"Almost noon," he replied as he led her back inside the room and closed the door.

"What?" she stared in horror at the wall clock she had ignored, minutes ago. "Why didn't you wake me? We're guests! They have an agenda! It's rude to–"

"Piero didn't feel well this morning. You were tired. It's OK."

"I…" she rubbed her right temple with her hand. "You're right. You're right. I'll be there in a sec."

"OK," he added after his eyes surreptitiously checked for signs of injury on her, just in case. "I'll let them know you're joining us."

"Thanks," she nodded and lazily combed her hair with her fingers, suddenly self-conscious of her appearance before the billionaire.

"And, Pepper?"

"Yes?"

"Piero knows about us. But he's OK with it."

"You mean about us not…" she halted her question when Tony reluctantly nodded to her. "He does? How did he find out? Did you tell him?"

"Didn't have to," he shrugged. "He figured it out himself. Said we're terrible actors. But he understands."

"Oh," her head recoiled. "What about Alba?"

"I don't know if he told her. I can find out, though."

"No, it's OK. Don't ask her. It's better if we don't know. But, if he figured it out, and he's just the first one, that means we need to get better at this. I doubt the other investors will be as understanding as Piero is."

"I know. We'll talk about it more when we're in the jet."

"OK."

"Alright. See you in a bit," he said with finality, turned around in place, and headed to the door. Before he was able to reach it, however, he was stopped in his tracks when he felt Pepper grabbing his right wrist, turning him to face her, and then throwing her arms around his neck. He was slow to react, mostly due to unexpected surprise, but he then returned the embrace by lacing his arms around her waist.

He rested his chin on her shoulder, patted her back in what he hoped was a comforting manner, and bit down on his tongue. He was not sure where the sudden expression of affection was coming from, but something told him it was better not to ask questions right now; especially not after she followed the tight hug with a quick peck to his cheek and she then rushed to hide inside the bathroom without another word.

He stood by the door until he heard her turn on the shower. He exited the room and then scratched the top of his head in confusion, wondering what had compelled her to do what she did. He was not complaining about it, nor was he planning on asking her to her face. He was just perplexed, that was all. He just did not want to misconstrue her actions or gain hope where he knew that none existed.

He was uncertain as to how long he had stood there, racking his brain trying to make sense of Pepper's seemingly random embrace. But he instantly figured it had to have been a long time when he heard the door open up again and saw Pepper walk out from it, looking as radiant and carefree as the part demanded she played.

Without words, she circled his right arm with her left one, and she then clasped his hand in hers. He eyed their intertwined limbs from the corner of his right eye, but he said nothing of it at all. He had just told her that Piero knew about them, and that the perception was that they were terrible at pretending they were together when they were not. Maybe she was just taking it upon herself to make sure their act was more believable. Maybe she was just getting comfortable and more attuned with the role she had been given to play.

Or maybe, just maybe, she was as shocked and shaken as he was at learning the news of Piero's illness and this feeling was what was driving her odd behavior. Maybe she was just thinking about her own mortality as much he had been thinking about it as of late.

Or maybe, a third maybe, she just felt relieved that he no longer had any expectations of them getting back together at the end of all of this, so she was now comfortable enough to play along with the charade.

Whatever it was, _whatever_ it was, it was fine with him at the moment.

He could ask the questions later. He could wonder aloud, _later_.

When he continued to stand as still as a statue, Pepper encouraged him to move by squeezing his hand. She then tugged lightly at his arm, gave him a warm, genuine smile, and then pointed towards the hall with the top of her head.

"Mind escorting me to the kitchen? I don't think I know where it is."

He smiled brightly at her.  
"It will be my absolute pleasure, ma'am."

Pepper snorted lightly and pressed her head against his arm all the way to their destination, having the desperate need to feel his warm skin against hers.

He _was_ alive and well, after all.

That was all that truly mattered to her in the end.

xxxXXXxxx

To wrap-up their weekend at the Abbiati home, their hosts had squeezed into their already-tight schedule appearing at a charity event in the heart of Venice. Many of the investors they were supposed to visit throughout the upcoming six weeks were expected to attend, and Tony had to wonder if Piero had planned this on purpose. He would not put it past the man, seeing as he appeared to be wiser than he had led others to believe. In the end, however, it did not matter if it had been part of the original plan or not: he and Pepper had to go, play pretend, and that was all there was to it.

Tony stood in front of the full-length mirror in their guest room and gave himself a final once-over. He still had to put on the bowtie but, for the life of him, he could not figure out how to tie it properly. He actually was not even sure why he was making the effort at all. Ever since Pepper had moved out of the Avengers Tower in favor of renting a private condo for herself, he had not bothered with bowties or ties, unless they were clip-ons. He did not even care for placing handkerchiefs in the front pocket of his suits, unless they were already there and he did not have to try to figure out how to make it look presentable for formal events. One of his staff members had even suggested that he searched for another personal assistant to replace the redhead that was no longer in his life… and Tony had almost visibly gagged at such a stupid recommendation. The idiot who had provided the unsolicited advice was lucky to still have a job… and his natural-born teeth… and a face.

But that was a different issue in and of itself.

Occasionally, his failure to upkeep his personal grooming made him feel like the least self-caring individual in the entire world. Some infants he knew could take better care of themselves than he could, at times. Hell! Even family pets ended up figuring out ways to survive when their owners were too busy with their jobs. However, most of the time, he knew that what he was actually experiencing was just pure nostalgia and a lack of drive due to not having his other-half nearby. It was not at all a simple case of survival-of-the-fittest gone south.

Pepper had once joked with him about his inability to do anything without her that a regular human being was capable of doing on their own. It had been true back then, and it was true today. And, as far as he was concerned, it would _always_ be true for someone like him. His mind was just too bright to be bothered by the day-to-day minutia that plagued the common people of the world. He had just been used to hiring people to do the jobs he did not want to deal with. All. The. Time.

 _"I don't think you can tie your own shoes without me."_

 _"I'd make it a week."_

 _"A week, really? What's your social security number?"_

 _"Uhm… Five…"_

 _"Five? You're missing just a couple of digits."_

 _"Right, the other eight. Well, I have you for the other eight."_

Nevertheless, he no longer had her around for the other eight digits of his social security number – or for the other eight of anything else whatsoever. Or, at the very least, he did not have her in a way that made him feel that he really had her at all. If Mr. Abbiati's suggestion on how he should go about getting back with Pepper did not work as expected, Tony Stark would have to learn how to tie his own damn shoes.

And memorize his social security number too, for that matter.

And, worst of all, he would have to learn to live without the woman he loved. That last part was what scared him the most.

"Stupid piece of crap," he mumbled and then pulled off the offending clothing item from his neck once more. He stared at it with a frown, as if the fabric would suddenly feel his wrath and automatically fold in the way it needed to go to do its job. Yet, after nearly a minute of staring, he finally accepted that he needed help. _Her_ help.

"Pepper?" he called over his shoulder and towards the bathroom door.

 _"Yes?"_ came her response from inside the facilities, where she was getting ready for their outing tonight.

"Can you help me with something?" he turned in place and then headed to the bathroom door, rapidly knocking on it twice to let her know that he was right outside.

 _"I was about to ask you the same thing,"_ she replied in defeat before she opened the double-doors of the bathroom and made Tony's jaw drop at what he saw. It did not matter how many times he had seen her playing the part of a female member of the elite of society; she always managed to one-up herself when dressing up for the role.

"I can't reach the zipper," she pointed towards her back with her right index finger. "I think I only got half of it closed."

 _Great_ , Tony gulped as his eyes stared at her up and down, only to then realize that he had not really paid attention to what he had just been told.

The favor she was requesting of him was fairly simple to grant, but he was having difficulty getting to it due to how much his attention was captured by her form. The way her long, white dress hugged her curves and accentuated her natural beauty managed to entrance him; just like a charmer could do to a snake.

"Tony," she waved her hand in front of his face. "Zipper, please?"

"Yes, zipper," he blinked several times and then took a step back to allow her to twirl in place to give her back to him. He then held onto the zipper with his right hand, pulled down her dress with the other, and then began _unzipping_ her.

"Up, Tony," she quickly said, "Up, not down!"

"Sorry," he instantly replied and changed the direction of his hand. A moment later, Pepper's dress was exactly like it needed to be. However, Tony's bowtie was still in his hands.

"Pepper, could you–"

"I got it," she smiled and grabbed the bowtie from him before getting to work. He kept his back straight and his chin up while she fixed up the item for him. Once she was done, she patted his chest twice to let him know he was ready to go, and he instantly relaxed.

"Thanks," they both said at the same time and then chuckled simultaneously. An uncomfortable silence followed their light snicker until Tony asked the first thing that came to his mind.

"Dreading this?"

"Like you can't imagine," she replied with a sigh.

"I think I can. But, hey! At least we'll be on the road again tomorrow."

"That's true."

Much to their chagrin, another awkward silence befell them, their eyes dancing around the room to avoid each other's gazes. Tony scratched his chin and neck. Pepper self-consciously brushed her hair with her fingers. Their eyes met once for a quick second, and Pepper then felt heat rise to her cheeks.

"So, are you ready?" she asked.

"Yes. You?" he asked back.

"Yes," she nodded, cleared her throat, patted down her dress… and then silence engulfed them yet again.

They were standing by the threshold of the bedroom and the bathroom, acting like a couple of idiots, and Tony could not help but do what he did best in these types of situations: he jested.

"So… Is it _my_ turn to try to break the silence again? I kinda lost track."

Pepper simply chuckled and shook her head from side to side, relieved that Tony had granted them both a way out.

"Let's get this over with, shall we?" she tilted her head to the side.

"We shall," he offered his right arm to her, forgetting for a moment that this was not _his_ girlfriend he was attempting to escort. To his surprise, however, she circled his arm with a smile and without qualms.

 _Let her come to you_ , Mr. Abbiati had told him. _People tend to want what they don't have._

Piero's idea, it seemed, was not as crazy as Tony had thought.

xxxXXXxxx

They could not remember the last time they had done this as a team – parading themselves in a sea of dick-measuring remarks and cross-examinations veiled as nothing more than innocent quips or signs of selfless concern – but they both knew it had been long enough when, after only half an hour into the charity event, they had both fled towards the balcony doors. The fake pleasantries and sugarcoated jabs that were ever present in events like these had become something they had thought they would never have to live with again. Nevertheless, here they were, and here the pretentiousness was, as well.

"Do you know who I am?" Tony pointed towards his chest with his right index finger, his voice low so that only Pepper could hear him. "I'm Iron Man. Why do I have to put up with this shit?"

Pepper spared a glance over her left shoulder, her arms bent over the railing of the balcony, subconsciously mimicking the same pose Tony had.

"Because you're also Tony Stark," she whispered back to him.

"Guess I'm getting old," he mused. "It was a lot easier to play pretend back then. I had nothing to lose and energy to spare."

Pepper gave him an apologetic smile, feeling the same frustration he obviously felt, and then placed her right palm on his right upper arm.

"But, for what it's worth… we only have four more hours of this crap."

He laughed aloud at her response and patted her hand on his arm. He loved it when Pepper spoke more like herself than the businesswoman she was.

"Well that's comforting… in no way whatsoever," he smirked.

"I'm afraid that's the best I have," she smiled back and retracted her hand from his form.

"It's still better than what I had to say about it," he admitted.

"Which was?"

"Nothing at all."

"Thought so," she replied in a smug tone that prompted him to shake his head in feign disapproval of her response.

"Though, you wanna know who _didn't_ really think, I think?"

"Who?"

"Jack," Tony replied.

"Jack? Dobson?"

"Yup," Tony flared his nostrils. "What was he thinking, bringing the mistress to this thing?"

"Oh, yes!" Pepper nodded. "I noticed that, too. I guess Melanie is too busy with their newborn to care about parties, right?"

"Really?" Tony's face was one of disbelief.

"Yup," Pepper replied. "So much for being the cream of the crop, huh?"

"The cream of the crap, if you ask me! What an ass! What kind of dick leaves his wife at home with their new baby to party-it-up with the other woman?"

"Jack Dobson, it appears."

"Please don't tell me we have to meet up with him during this stupid trip."

"We do."

"Ugh, Pep! I _just_ told you _not_ to tell me!"

"Tell you what?" a third person said, and it made them both jump out of their skin as a result. They instantly and begrudgingly recognized the voice, which set them both on high-alert, just before they shared a knowing look as they turned in place to face the newcomer behind them.

"Christine Everhart," Tony said between gritted teeth. "What a… pleasant, I guess… surprise."

"I'm sure," Christine's smile could have not been more hypocritical. "But it's probably not as surprising as _me_ seeing the _both_ of you in the same room. It's been a while since the world has witnessed the two of you… _together_."

 _Great!_ Tony was in shock, but he did not let his fake smile falter. _She's on to us, too!_

"It would only make sense that you don't see much of us," Pepper snaked both of her arms around Tony's left one and pulled him closer to her. "I would think that our lives aren't any of your concern now that you don't report for _Vanity Fair_. I'm sure you have bigger fish to fry, Ms. Everhart."

"Bigger than exclusively covering the most-awaited _Wedding of the Decade_?" Christine asked, condescension dripping from every spoken word. "Of course not! I'm still waiting for the wedding invitation since, well, we all go way back. I almost feel like we're old _friends_ , the three of us."

"Friends?" Tony narrowed his eyes and pretended to seriously consider her words. "I'm pretty sure you weren't on that list of mine, last I checked. I think I had you under a list titled: _Nuisances that come with the territory and are, sadly, a fact of life_."

"Oh, you're so funny," Christine spat. "As funny as this whole charade you two have going on. I mean, seriously. Do you really expect us to believe that the two of you haven't called it quits since forever ago? It's so obvious it's almost not even newsworthy. Why don't you just be honest and come clean with the world? We all saw it coming, anyway. It just took longer than expected. I gotta give you points for that. So, what was it? What finally hit the last nail in the Stark-Potts romance coffin? Was it infidelity? Irreconcilable differences? Poor performance in bed? Irreconcilable differences due to poor performance in bed that lead to infidelity? Please, do tell!"

Tony's entire body tensed. He barely held back an angry groan. His knuckles turned white. And just as he was about to give the insufferable woman a piece of his mind, Pepper Potts beat him to the punch.

"Ms. Everhart," the redhead's voice was as calm and collected as it could ever be. "I understand that someone in your position, and with your poor dating track-record, can find it difficult to comprehend what a settled relationship looks like. I admit that Tony's past experiences with the media are probably a _stark_ contrast to what you see of him now, and that this just adds to the confusion. And, although _I_ find it hard to believe that the _WHiH Newsfront_ is at all interested in our personal lives, you can quote me on this for your next broadcast, if you're so much inclined to do so: Tony Stark and I are still very much in love with each other. Just like any other couple, we've had our ups and our downs; especially with me being so busy as the CEO of the largest technology conglomerate in the world, and with Tony's occasional saving of the world – which you've had the pleasure of reporting for us, actually. But just as anyone in a serious relationship can attest to it – that's the cycle of a real relationship. We yell. We fight. We get angry at each other. But we make it work. Maybe not in the fairytale way that the likes of _Vanity Fair_ would love it to be, but in the way that _real_ life mandates it should be. End quote."

Pepper's triumphant smile grew at seeing Christine pursing her lips in utter defeat and feeling Tony somewhat relax. The reporter had clearly expected a longer verbal exchange of sarcastic retorts until she caught them in a lie, but the redhead's response had just completely annihilated any chance she had hoped to have to bring to the light what she knew would be the greatest celebrity news until now. Christine Everhart was not stupid. She knew what the revelation of a breakup between Pepper Potts and Tony Stark could have done for her rising career; and for her pockets, too, as many competitors of Stark Industries sponsored her newscast.

Then again, there was always tomorrow, and the day after that. Sooner or later, the couple would irreversibly slip-up – she just knew that, in time, they absolutely would. All she really had to do was be there when it took place; everything else would just piece itself together without much effort on her part. She was going to make sure she had a front-row seat of the view when the time came. She would be damned if she were to miss her one chance to get back at the highly-regarded Pepper Potts.

 _Trash_ , she had once called her. She was yet to get even about that.

"Very well," Christine's smile returned. "I guess there's nothing for me to report, huh?"

"Nothing that anyone would be interested in hearing, no. I don't think so at all," Pepper replied.

"Oh, well," Christine sighed. "Until next time, I guess, my dear friends."

"Until next time, Ms. Everhart," Pepper said with a slight nod.

The reporter returned the parting nod to the both of them, turned in place, took a step back to the balcony doors, but then suddenly looked over her shoulder with a knowing smirk that made the couple tense up once more; a look that made them feel terrified at whatever the woman could possibly want.

"One last thing, before I forget," she stared at Pepper directly in the eye and placed a palm on her chest. "I was so sorry to hear about your miscarriage, Ms. Potts. I'm sure it was a very difficult time for you both, but I'm happy to see that you two _worked it out_. Enjoy the rest of your evening."

Christine Everhart had just pulled on them the oldest trick in the news reporter book: throwing a shot in the dark.

Much to Pepper's misfortune: it had hit the bull's-eye.

xxxXXXxxx

He waited until the reporter was far away from earshot to groan loudly, outright despising himself for and regretting the moment he had thought it a good idea to spend the night with the intolerable blonde. He rubbed his face with his hands and sighed in hardly contained indignation at what they had just had to live through. If they were not at such a public place, he would have made a scene that would have taught the fake blonde exactly what he thought of her passive-aggressive behavior towards them. If so much was not riding on them keeping up with appearances, and if he did not want to give Pepper yet another headache to deal with, he would have told the world, long ago, that the renowned news anchor was nothing but a big, fat fraud.

"I really hate that woman. She's so full of shit. I would know: I'm full of shit, too."

When the redhead did not utter a response, let alone make a snarky comment about his poor attempt at self-deprecating humor, Tony looked towards her stunned silent form and furrowed his brow in confusion. Pepper had seemed to be on top of the dire situation, just mere seconds ago – so ahead of the game the reporter had tried to play, that her current shocked reaction seemed too out of place for him.

Surely, she knew that Christine would do or say _anything_ to try to get a rise out of them. Surely, Pepper Potts knew better than to let such a cheap comment get the best of her. They had heard worse before – much, much worse. _She_ had too many times lived through worse media trash on _his_ behalf. And she had always managed to have the perfect response to any stupid comment made by the news. She had never let it get to her. She had never let it bring her down. She had never given any of those dumbasses the pleasure of seeing her stutter, sweat, or lose her cool.

She had always been calm and collected; in absolute control.

Even when the media had taken a small fact of their lives and had blown it out of proportion, she always found a way to turn it around and make it work for her. It was like a game of cat and mouse at this point, and Pepper had never, ever played the mouse part.

This situation was no different, as far as he could tell. This was not any more difficult than any of those previous times. There was no audience present to judge them; nothing clearly at stake. It had been a forced, all-but-casual conversation that no one other than them would know it had ever taken place. Christine's words should have not affected them – affected _her_ , as much as it appeared they had. There was no truth to any of it. No basis for it at all. No reason whatsoever for the fake expression of concern stated by Christine to have any bearing at all.

 _Unless…_ Tony gulped. _Unless… no…_

His eyes alternated between staring at Pepper and a retreating Christine Everhart, the wheels slowly turning in his head. Celebrity gossip was something they were both used to dealing with on a daily basis. Shoddier stories had several times before been made-up about them. From claims that Tony was cheating on Pepper with anyone who happened to say _hi_ to him, to bogus statements made by total strangers about their less-than-stellar sex life. It all came with the territory. It was all part of the world they lived in. The world _he_ had brought her into when he had hired her as his assistant. The world she put up with for _him_.

Certain that no one else was on the balcony with them, Tony shifted in place and rested his hands on her upper arms to force her to face him. He tilted his head slightly; his eyes taking in her lost and puzzled gaze, silently hoping that she would suddenly snap out of her trance and look at him without him having to shake her back into her senses. When after nearly a minute or so she continued to stare into space, he cupped her face in his hands and brushed his thumbs over her cheeks. He watched intently as she blinked her sight back into focus. He felt some type of relief when she rested her palms against his hands to keep them where they were on her face. She then closed her eyes for a moment, inhaling deeply through her nose. When she finally opened her eyes again, she let out a shuddering exhale through her mouth and then cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry, Tony. I… I don't know what came over me."

"That makes two of us," he replied.

"I just… I wasn't expecting that. From all the things she could have said to us, that was the last trick I thought she'd try to pull."

"I can tell," he slowly removed his hands from her face to put them in his pockets, but he did not pull away from her. "I didn't expect it either, to be honest. I mean, _why_ would we, right? _Why_ would she even _think_ to say that?"

"Right. I… It just doesn't make any sense."

"Nope," he questioningly squinted his eyes. "No sense at all."

He followed the narrowing of his eyes with an inquisitive sideways tilt of his head – one that she knew he favored whenever he was not satisfied with someone's half-assed response to a comment he had made that he believed to be important. Then, without thinking much about what he was about to do – or what the consequences of his actions would be, he stared directly at her belly, stopping only when she self-consciously covered it with both of her hands and cleared her throat. She then turned her head away from him and pretended to be looking at the partygoers through the see-through balcony doors to her right, hoping that the gesture would entice him enough to look in that general direction as well, and to let the conversation go.

Unfortunately for her, and for him, he was as curious and as stubborn as she was. And, as if that was not enough, he also knew when she was trying to lie her ass off.

"Pepper," he scratched the back of his neck with his right hand, almost dreading what he could feel was about to come.

"I don't know where that idea came from," she suddenly snapped, practically reading his mind by the tone of his voice and his posture.

"Are you sure you don't?"

He could tell that she was holding back, but he at least appreciated the fact that she was skipping the pointless part of the discussion where she tried to avoid the talk at all.

"I just said that I don't."

"Really? You don't? Are you sure there isn't _anything_ you want to tell me?"

"Am I sure? Am I… _what_?" she swallowed down the truth and buried it behind a look of indignation. "What do you mean _am I sure_? Don't tell me you believe her?"

"Of course I don't," he replied. "But when it comes to you, I believe my eyes. And my ears. And right now, Pep," he shook his head and flinched. "Something's just not adding up here with you."

"Are you honestly pulling the _Iron Man Detective_ stunt on me, Stark?"

"I'm honestly trying _not_ to," he said. "And I won't continue to try, if you just tell me the truth."

"What truth? I just told you: I don't know why she said that."

"Then why are you so defensive?"

"Because you're being offensive."

"I'm _always_ offensive. That's practically my middle name."

"Your middle name is _Edward_ ," she deadpanned, not at all amused by his attempt at forcing the truth out of her with humor.

"And my first name, right now, is _Confused_."

"There's nothing to be confused about, Tony. There's no truth to be told."

He sighed loudly, scrunched up his nose as he looked up, and then locked eyes with her once more.

"Because you would tell me, if there was. If you… if there was ever a baby, you would have told me about it, right?"

"Right," she gulped.

When neither of them had anything else to say, he unhappily regarded her for another moment, silently begging her to tell him the real reason why Everhart's comment had shaken her so, regardless of how awful or hurtful said reason was. Not many situations managed to make Pepper Potts nearly fall to her knees. Not just anything anyone said could make the claim to have made her crumble or leave her without speech. Let alone nosy reporters with illusions of self-importance and greatness. Yet, somehow, the wannabe-but-never-would-be _Walter Cronkite_ had managed to do all of the above.

Then again, thinking about it more, maybe it was not the fact that there might have been a baby that had flustered her. Perhaps, it was the complete opposite of that. Perhaps, what had really bothered the redhead was that a baby could have never been part of the equation, whether she had wanted it or not. Maybe, the real issue at hand was that the reporter had made a joke of something that could have never even come to life.

Which one was worse, Tony could not immediately tell.

Whichever it was, however, there was nothing he could do about it now.

Perhaps later.

But not _now_.

xxxXXXxxx

It was the middle of the night, their current location being halfway to their second business stop, and she sat in complete darkness, near the front of the airliner, too wide awake for the time. Her legs were curled up under her, the left side of her head resting against the cold wall of the jet, and her eyes hazily stared at the sea of dark clouds outside. She knew that she should have been sleeping the night away in preparation for their next round of corporate meetings, rather than taking a break from anxiously pacing up and down the aircraft, but the grim thoughts swirling inside her mind did not feel like giving her a chance for some much needed rest. It also did not help that the pressure inside the cabin kept fluctuating so much so that it was constantly making her ears pop. Not to mention, the sudden drops in altitude that followed the slamming of the plane by strong wind gusts belonging to the thunderstorm they were yet to escape did everything but sway her to seek slumber.

How Tony still managed to fall asleep and remain asleep throughout it all, she could not explain. Then again, the man got beat to a pulp for a living – even as a hobby, sometimes. A passing storm probably did not even register in his _immediate-danger-need-to-take-action_ scale. He was probably fighting the storm in his dreams, for all she knew. And he was probably dream-winning that particular fight, too.

Very much so as he had almost won their argument of yesterday. Very much so as he had almost caught her in a very serious lie.

 _It would kill him_ , she closed her eyes and then grabbed onto the armrest of the seat when the plane violently dipped again. _If he knew about it, it would_ _ **kill**_ _him._

Much to the surprise of people who were not acquainted enough with the billionaire, his feelings and pride were easily wounded by those he loved and cared about. Hurting him was the last thing she had wanted to do to him. Lying to him came as a close-second undesirable act. But lying to him was a far better choice than hurting him; at least in her eyes, most especially now, when she had been given a small glimpse of how Tony could have possibly reacted at finding out that he had lost an opportunity to become a father when he had questioned her about Christine's Everhart's comment. She did not want to imagine what his actual reaction would be if he were to find out that the reason why she was not still pregnant with his child right now was because of him. Because he was Iron Man. Because he had gotten himself killed.

Or so she had thought.

"We still haven't gone around the storm? Jeez!" Tony's half-asleep voice startled her out of her thoughts, but she quickly composed herself. She had not even heard the door to the bedroom open up; yet, here he now was, sitting across from her, scratching the side of his exposed chest and stomach with his right hand and his back with his left one.

"Fell from the bed?" she asked in a mocking tone and he rolled his eyes.

"I take it you heard the ruckus I made trying to get up?"

"I didn't."

"Oh," he scoffed and smiled in slight embarrassment. "Well, shit. Gave myself up, huh? Guilty as charged."

He followed his admittance by squinting his eyes to try to make sense of what he was seeing through the small window, but he could not even see the edge of the plane itself, let alone discern the origin of the shadows and shapes dancing outside.

"Couldn't sleep?" he asked.

A single shake of her head was her only response.

"Pep?"

"No," she answered when she realized that he probably could not see very well just yet.

"How long was I out?"

"Three, four hours, maybe?"

"What?" Tony's head recoiled. "And you've been awake all this time? You need to sleep, Pepper."

"Storm won't let me."

"But you must be tired."

"Not enough to sleep yet."

"Then maybe I should tell you a story."

"Oh, no, please," she chuckled. "I don't think I can handle more stories about how the _Starkium_ element came to be."

"You mean _Badassium_."

"You mean the name that you couldn't get patented?"

"Technicality! In my heart, Pep, _Badassium_ is the only name for my new element."

"Oh, Jesus! Please don't let me let you name our kids."

"Why not? Robert and Gwyneth sound like perfectly decent names to me."

"Robert and Gwyneth? You already chose names for our kids?"

"Of course I did!"

"When? Why?"

"When: since I realized I was in love with you. And why _wouldn't_ I? You're the only woman I ever saw myself having any with!"

It did not immediately register with either of them what it was that they had just said until they replayed the other's words in their minds. And their reactions were not given a chance to come to the surface either when a massive jerking of the plane sent them both stumbling towards the floor.

"What the _hell_ was that?" he immediately got to his knees and then crawled towards Pepper. "Are you alright?"

"I'm OK," she blinked rapidly and then held the side of her head with her hand. She would not immediately tell him, and it appeared that he had not witnessed it when it had happened, but she had hit her head hard against the wooden armrest of the seat she had been in.

He stood up from the floor with her in tow, held her body against his by snaking his arms around her waist, and then gave her a cursory glance for good measure before speaking once more.

"I think it's time for an emergency landing, don't you think?"

A shaky nod was her only response.

He guided her towards the seat he had just been forced to vacate and strapped her to it. After making sure the seat belt was tightly held in place, he turned on his heels and rocked back and forth towards the cockpit, grabbing onto whatever was available to keep him standing on his way there. As soon as he arrived, he slammed the door open, opened his mouth to order the captain to do his damn job, but was instead shocked by what he saw.

There was no pilot. Or copilot. They were both gone.

His eyes then landed on the navigation console and noticed that the autopilot was on – and that it had been _on_ for almost as long as he had been asleep; almost as long as the storm had carried on.

 _Oh, shit!_

He double-checked the readings one more time to ensure that his eyes were not deceiving him and, with utmost anger and regret, he confirmed that what he had just realized was true.

 _We're going around in circles. We've been staying inside the storm!_

 _"Tony?"_ he heard Pepper's worried voice scream behind him. _"What's going on?"_

"Stay where you are, Pep," he made his reply before he sat in the pilot's seat and then began pushing buttons and pulling levers to regain control of the plane. "I got this!"

 _"What do you mean_ _ **you got this**_ _? Got what?"_

"I'm getting us out of here."

 _"You…_ _ **You**_ _'re getting us out of here? Why would you… What… WHAT the_ _ **hell**_ _happened to– AH!"_

"Pepper!"

He turned on the autopilot again, ran out of the cabin, and was then forced to stop his march when the plane shook up and down once more; this time, harder than any of the other times before. A second later, just as he was about to run towards a visibly scared redhead to bring her to the cockpit with him, the sound of something bursting through a window caught his attention, giving him only the span of the blink of an eye to come to terms with what was about to unfold.

The brightness of the unexpected explosion between them blinded him.

The sound of Pepper's voice calling for him before the bomb went off forced him into motion.

But it was the realization that the plane was now plummeting to the ground in many pieces – and that Pepper was nowhere to be seen, that truly pushed him over the edge.

Someone had set them up.

And whomever it was, they might as well already claim victory.

* * *

 **A/N:** We couldn't have an _Iron Man_ fic without some action, now could we? :P Any guesses as to what the hell just happened here? Thanks for reading and reviewing, my Faithful Readers!

 **Thank you for the favorite/follow:** _StarkObsessed_ _ **,**_ _itsjoey,_ and _montiliciousmont._

 **Kate: Oh my god you have to give us the next chapter ? Is it real ? Did tony know ? Please tell us !** –DUN DUN DUN! Some answers to your questions can be found in this update :)

 **Marie Lecter: I'm soooo sad for our poor Pepperony! If you could just make this Ever-sh#t die under an 18-wheeler, I'd be most grateful. Her name has become one of my favourite insult since IM1 haha Can't wait for the next chap! It really is a fantastic fic :) PEPPERONY FOREVER** – LOL! Evershit! XDDDD Tell me about it, though! Everyhart has NO heart, whatsoever. Thank you ^_^

 **Guest: Dammnnnn... I'm going crazy with this fic... Like I'm head over heels... Update soon plz plz!** – Awww! Thank you! Here's the next update :D

 **guest: Holy crap! That was amazing and shocking at the same time! Pleeeeeease update soon!** – Amazing and shocking… amazing and shocking… *thinks about the content of this update* Amazing and shocking… huh… ;)

 **Ana Paula Lopes: I could not post my review for the last chapter, as I had commented before you reorder the chapters. I know I'm missing a bit, but I'm still reading! OMG, I am shocked at the end of this chapter!I do not even need to say how much I can not stand Everhart, but now it has led to a completely new level of hatred and malice! And that was the secret of Pepper? When it happened, during the events of the Civil War? I wonder if that's why she turned away from him, wanting a little tranquility for the baby and he did not understand the signs? Pepper speech to this creature was so real that I did not see as if they were separate or on a break, but were going through a difficult phase and that would solve their problems together! I enjoyed that! I wonder Tony's reaction to this news!** **Until the next chapter xoxo** – Hey, girl! Glad to see you're back! I was able to post your review by making it a guest review :D Hope you don't mind ^_^ And. O.M.G! I can't stand her either. She's so fake! Completely fake! But she makes a good villainess, though. Gotta give her that.

 **Sarai: Hola, me gusta tu historia, para cuando el próximo capítulo :) estoy ansiosa por saber lo que pasa, por saber como reacciona Tony, puedo imaginarlo... de mil maneras ,pero no es igual a leerlo.** – ¡Hola, Sarai! El momento en el que recibí la notificación de tu review fue el mismo momento en el que terminé de escribir este capítulo. Espero te guste :) Gracias por leer y comentar ^_^


	4. Chapter 3: Madrid, Part 1

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Thank you for the favorite/follow:** _nancyozz_ , _MarvelouslyImperfect_ , _TheChicaChic_ , _aem91_ , and _Bookreader9999_.

 **Ana Paula Lopes: Theories of pregnancy only increase in my head! Pepper really had a spontaneous miscarriage? Or she had an abortion because she thought Tony could not be a father due to the Iron Man? Or she suffered Extremis consequences and can not have a baby? I am so confuse! You're just leaving us with heart in hand now! Surely there must have been a sabotage or perhaps an attack! OMG, someone help! great chapter as always! Xoxo** – Sooo much I wanna say here… but I don't want to spoil anything! :'(

 **Guest: Wow I'm speechless. Pepper really needs to come clean to tony and tell him everything. Will rhoady and vision look for them or even the other avengers?** – Answers to your questions here :D

 **Gabby: OMG! Please please please post more already! Are they gonna be alright? Please, don't kill Pepper!** – NEVER! Well, I mean, I DID kill Pepper in one of my stories once. But we got her back. No killing here, though!

 **MarieLecter: It's just a nightmare, right?! Well, it shure is mine now! haha**

 **As usual, can't wait for the next chap :)** – LOLZ! By the end of this chapter, we're going to be wishing for nightmares XD

 **guest: Well, that was a turn of events for sure. I really hope this is just a nightmare if it's not then there must be some Iron Man action in the next chapter. I can't wait for your update**! – Thank you! Here's the new chappie for ya!

 **A/N:** Writer's block is hitting me REALLY hard. Like, so hard that even when I have to compose emails for work, I'm stuck staring at a blank screen for several minutes. Guess the age is finally getting to me. I hope this is not too disappointing for ya'll :(

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Madrid, Part 1**

 _"Tony!"_

 _"Pepper!"_

He gasped and sat up in bed, his skin clammy to the touch. The bed sheets stuck to his moist body. His chest rose heavily. His eyes blinked fast. The fight or flight response was practically weighing him down, making him feel as if he was sinking further into the mattress than the Laws of Physics would allow. Yet, when he realized that he was alone in the bed, he sprung off it, tripped on his way to the door, and then all but sped out of the bedroom and into the rest of the plane.

His head snapped left and right, but her presence was nowhere to be seen. He returned to the bedroom, checked the bathroom, and then once again walked back to the main area of the jet. It was still dark outside, but there at least was no sign of a storm. Nevertheless, knowing that what he had just experienced had been nothing but a too-realistic-for-his-taste nightmare did not placate his fears. Especially since Pepper's current whereabouts were unknown to him.

"Fell from the bed?"

He jumped out of his skin, turned around in place, and stared at a sleepy-looking redhead curled up in two contiguous seats, her head miles from the top of the furniture item. It became clear to him that he had missed her location due to him not bothering to pay attention to what could have been hidden by the cabin-facing seats. He almost rolled his eyes at himself for the stupid oversight.

Pepper rubbed her eyes with her hands, ran her fingers down her tresses to somewhat comb them to decency, and then cleared her throat; the look on her face one that informed him that she was waiting for him to respond.

He voiced the first answer that came to his mind.

"I take it you heard the ruckus I made trying to get up?" the familiar yet eerie-to-him response was out from his lips before he was able to swallow it down.

"I didn't," she half-smiled, pulled closer to her body the single blanket she had on her form, and then straightened her back and legs so that she was now sitting on only one seat.

He opened his mouth to reply that he was _guilty as charged_ , but he opted to shake his head instead. No sense in repeating history, even though he did not believe in premonitions or any of that related shit.

"Hold that thought," he pointed his left index finger towards her before he all but ran towards the cabin, slammed open the door, and was relieved to see his two pilots present and wide awake.

"Mr. Stark?" the Captain briefly looked over his shoulder to address his boss.

"Jonas," Tony nodded at the man before he turned to the co-pilot, "Greg."

"Sir."

"You're here. And you're flying. Good. That's good."

The two men exchanged a puzzled look amongst each other, but said nothing else about Tony's random response. They were already somewhat used to Tony Stark's quirkiness. Still, the man appeared to have a never-ending supply of it.

"I'll give you both a second Christmas bonus if you make sure we safely make it to Madrid."

"Of course, Sir," Jonas was taken aback by the billionaire's odd request. He had no intention of doing anything other than his job.

"Good deal. Carry on."

Leaving them to scratch their heads, Tony unceremoniously exited the cabin and closed the door behind him.

"Tony?"

"One sec, Pep."

The redhead watched the genius take a moment to inspect every single window in the jet. She then tilted her head to the right when he asked his phone to do a sweep of the integrity of the interior and exterior of the plane, followed by a request to do a security check of their surroundings. When he was convinced that they were both safe, he joined her in the same two-person seat and gave her a small smile.

"What are you doing here?"

"You seemed restless. Didn't want to encroach on your space."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's OK. Bad dream?"

"Did it seem like a bad dream?"

"Couldn't tell," she shrugged. "You weren't tossing too much or screaming like when… like _before_. But you did seem to be uncomfortable staying on your side. Thought I'd let you have the entire bed."

"Well, that's nice of you and all, but this _can't_ be comfortable," he waved a hand over the seats.

"You'd be surprised. I've slept in worse places before."

"Like, the floor, near my bed, with a trashcan in hand," Tony grimaced, recalling that she had one too many times spent nights guarding his drunken or high-on-drugs slumber, fearing her boss would suddenly die of toxicity during the night.

"Like, the floor, near your bed, with a trashcan in hand," she reluctantly agreed, regretting to bring up his past when there was no reason for it. Even though the situation _had_ actually happened and it _had_ been their reality for a long time, he _had_ changed over time. He was no longer the man she had met when she had first started working for him, but it was difficult to suddenly forget all of the headaches he had caused her for over ten years.

Nevertheless, she still really hated herself when comments like these slipped out. He was a changed man. He had worked really hard to become who he now was. And she was very proud of him.

"Well, I think I'm all _nightmared_ out. The bed is up for grabs."

"Are you sure?" she raised a single eyebrow.

"Absolutely."

He followed his reply by standing up, pulling the blanket from her, and then lifting her up in his arms. Much to his surprise, she did not ask him why he was doing so, and she did not fight back. Instead, she pressed herself against him, circled his neck with her arms, and then closed her eyes.

"Think I can still have a few hours of sleep?"

"At least five more, for sure," he kicked open the door to the bedroom and walked straight to the bed.

"OK."

Her slurred reply made him stare at her face with a small smile as he slowly laid her on her side of the mattress. She was clearly exhausted; all probably due to the discomfort caused by trying to catch some sleep while in an awkward position, and it was all his fault. The moment her head hit the pillow, she was out like a light.

And the moment she was out like a light, he exited the bedroom and suited up.

Dream or no dream, he was going to guard her sleep.

Dream or no dream, he was going to be ready for trouble, no matter what; just in case he had suddenly turned psychic overnight.

xxxXXXxxx

He was not sure why, but the initial meeting with their investor in Madrid had gone a lot smoother than their first one back in Venice. It was probably due to how they had not been forced to stay at the hosts' home and had been able to book a penthouse for themselves. Or probably because Pepper was not as apprehensive as before; she appeared to be very relaxed, in fact. Even pretending to be together was a lot easier too. In truth, if he did not know any better, he could have sworn that they were not pretending at all.

Yes. Their initial meeting _had_ been perfect… until lunchtime had come around; until their host had made their outing feel as nothing less than a living hell.

"So, Mr. Stark," Raul Contreras, the man they had come to Spain to see, asked in between bites, "What can you tell me about the projects MIT students are being sponsored for?"

"They're extremely varied in nature, to be honest with you. But they're all very exciting and have great potential to help people. _Reframing the future_ , is what we call it. There are science-based projects, business sustainability-based projects… those kids have some bright prospects ahead of them."

"Isn't that the truth," Raul nodded wholeheartedly. "I should've probably sent my kids to the United States to learn. Forced them to go to MIT, too. The education system appears to be a very good one over there. Spain is so behind the times. I mean, we still have ties to _Greece_. Who the hell does that after that country bankrupted itself? Certainly not graduates from MIT."

Tony was barely able to contain his groan at hearing yet another hyperbolically untrue, downright rude, and overall derogatory statement coming from the extremely negative man before them. It was as if all of the unhappy people in the entire world _ever_ – as in, _any_ bitter person that had ever walked this Earth – had all come together to choose a single representative of their insecurities and anger; had then dumped all of their lifetime accumulated rage onto Raul Contreras, and had let him simmer in it for decades until it was _well done_. Even Loki and Zemo had not been _this_ grumblingly resentful; no small feat.

And what could possibly be worse than personally being in the presences of the most patronizing person in the entire galaxy? Having to spend three days in the company of the _Chosen One_.

Thank God for Pepper Potts!

"I'm sure the education system here in Spain is also very valuable, Mr. Contreras. There's a little bit of everything everywhere, anyway, don't you think?"

"Oh, absolutely, Ms. Potts. But my kids are idiots. They might have not turned out like that if I had sent them out of the country to fend for themselves. Learn to be independent, you know? Boarding school would've been a better option than homeschooled. It builds character. Just like it did for, Mr. Stark."

Tony pursed his lips, prompting Pepper to jump in for him once more.

"I can understand how it can be difficult to make the best decision for our children. Everyone's different, after all," she put on a polite smile and then tenderly squeezed Tony's left hand to provide some discreet comfort to him. She knew that the conversation that had been coming out of the man's mouth for the past half-hour was very difficult for Tony. She could tell that it only reminded him of his own troublesome past – of his own experience of being forced away from his home when growing up.

A tight return of her squeeze was all she needed to know that he was grateful for her watching his back.

"Anyway. Enough about my dumb kids. Ms. Potts, what university did you attend?"

"Berkeley," Pepper replied.

"Ah! Another good one, I hear."

"It certainly pays the bills," she smiled.

"I thought it was Tony who did that," Raul replied, a pompous smile on his face. "He's the man of the house, after all. That's how it should work."

This time, it was Tony who jumped to her aid.

"For us, it's actually a two-way street, Raul. If it wasn't for Pepper managing the finances, I'd be broke."

"Nonsense!" the man shook his head. "No need to be guarded with me, Tony. I know how reckless women are with money – especially other people's money. My ex-wife: she was a money-spender, not a moneymaker. It's just how women behave. They just piss the man's money away. Take it from me: that's all they're good for. Unless they're also good in bed, which somewhat makes up for their irresponsibility. But that's really rare."

"Listen, Raul: I don't–"

"Understand the cultural differences. That's OK, Tony. No harm done, right?" Pepper interjected to stop Tony's angry reply.

She could see the telltale signs that he was about to put his foot in his mouth for her honor; anything derogatory he had been ready to say to Raul was more than deserved. Yet, as much as she would have loved to watch Raul get a piece of Tony's mind, it was the big picture – the investment – that matter in the end.

"Don't blame you," Raul sighed and then threw a napkin on his empty plate. "I gave up trying to understand why Americans love living in sin. It's like marriage and doing things the right way is evil or illegal to them."

"More or less sinful that divorce?" Tony blurted out before Pepper was able to intervene, and she braced for what she feared was to come.

Raul narrowed his eyes at Tony, a dislike of being called out on his bulllshit evident on his face.

"I guess you got me there, Mr. Stark. Divorce is a sin. But living a lie is an even worse sin. We're all tempted by the devil every day, aren't we? Sometimes, we just have to choose to live with the smaller sin."

"My apologies, Raul. I didn't mean to be rude about it. Blanket statements have always irked me. Just searching for some consistency, that's all."

Raul Contreras scoffed.

"Didn't know _you_ knew what that word meant: consistency? I figured it would take you at least five more years with Ms. Potts to forget your bed-jumping days. The pleasure of inconsistency is hard to let go."

"It takes half a second to settle when you find a woman you truly love."

"Yet it has taken years for you to decide to tie the knot with her. Unless you're not referring to Ms. Potts?"

"I _am_ referring to her."

"Then what's stopping you, Tony? Still testing the merchandise, I presume? I can test it for you, you know? If that helps you move things along."

Raul's boisterous, mocking guffaw made Tony and Pepper's blood boil; leaving them both speechless while Raul continued his spiel.

"I'm just messing with you, Tony. Ms. Potts clearly still has a lot of mileage left in her. Besides, you're at least living only in _half_ -sin. You haven't caved into the bigger sin of having children out of wedlock. That'd be the icing on the cake, that's for sure."

"Are you ready for the check, Mr. Contreras?" a quite timely waitress asked, yet again interrupting Tony's fuming reply.

"Yes," Pepper handed the young woman a card before Raul could think to take out his wallet.

"Absolutely not, Ms. Potts. I can't let you–"

"You're not. It's only fair for the meal to be on us, don't you think? We did miss our earlier appointment with you, after all. Well, it's on Tony, actually. He's the one with the money, right, Raul?"

"Right," Raul replied to the redhead between gritted teeth, accepting the generosity of his guests, much to his dismay. "Much obliged, Mr. Stark."

Not trusting himself to speak anything other than insults, Tony could only nod.

"But seriously," Raul continued, once the waitress left to process the card. "How come you two are not married already? You've been together for a long time. Still not sure if she's the one? Or maybe it's you, Ms. Potts. Think you're not enough of a woman for someone as successful as Tony Stark?"

"I–"

"I wouldn't blame you, if you were," Raul shrugged, speaking as if he were the only person in the room. "My ex-wife couldn't do it, either. Money. Power. Fame. It's too much for a weak-minded woman to bear. And I don't even have the same smarts that Tony here has. Plus, he's a world-known superhero. It wouldn't be shocking to me in the very least if he hasn't asked you because he's not sure if you're up to par."

"Let's–"

"Then there's the financial implications of a failed marriage. Divorce is messy in and of itself. But when you have money, it's even worse! Worse than if you just had kids and no money. The custody battles. Alimony. Child support payments. It's like the guilty party is supported by the law to mooch off the hardworking man."

"I've just had enough of–"

"Thank you for your business, Ms. Potts," the waitress handed the card and receipt to the redhead.

"You're welcome. Your service was most excellent."

"Come back soon," the server said with an honest smile before she took the signed check and returned to the cash register to close the tab.

"Anyway, as I was saying: count yourself lucky, Mr. Stark. If you don't feel like Ms. Potts is the right woman for you, it's alright. And you, Ms. Potts: this is in no way personal. It's just your nature, as a woman, to look only for security, not love. I'm sure you're a wonderful person. A woman, unfortunately. But still, a very wonderful human being."

"We're married," Tony spat out.

"Tony," Pepper's head whipped to her right, eyes wide in shock.

"You, what?"

"We're married," Tony repeated, more confidently this time; his knuckles turning white and his fists shaking in ire. "Pepper and I. We're married. We got married, last year."

Raul's head recoiled and his eyes landed on their hands, furrowing his brow when he saw no physical evidence of Tony's words.

"We haven't told anyone," Tony answered Raul's unspoken inquiry. "We didn't want to bring unnecessary attention to ourselves."

"But, your company… us… the investors… we deserve to–"

"The company is not about us," Tony replied. "It's about what we can do for the world."

"But, a marriage, it changes–"

"Nothing," Tony began. "It changes nothing. You couldn't even tell that we did, could you? You felt no difference at all. Not in your life. Or your investment. Or in your profits. If I hadn't just told you, you would've never known. So, what difference does it make? You keep your money, and we safeguard our privacy. Good deal, don't you think?"

Raul Contreras was taken aback and slowly rested his back against the chair, observing Tony and Pepper's every move with cautious eyes. He took in a deep breath, exhaled it slowly through his mouth, and then nodded a couple of times.

"You're absolutely right," Raul rubbed his forehead with his left hand. "It really does change nothing. But it does make me look like an ass. I apologize for my behavior, Mr. Stark… Mrs. Stark. I didn't know."

"It's OK," Pepper found herself saying, partly supporting Tony's charade, if just to end the awkward conversation and shift the topic to the business deal at hand.

"But, I'll make it up to you," Raul began to smile. "I'll backup your investment, no questions asked!"

"Thank you–"

"But that's not all!" Raul stood up from their table to gather the attention of everyone.

"That is more than enough."

"I'll throw a party for you in honor of your secret wedding!" the investor continued, arms open wide, voice loud, oblivious to Tony and Pepper's pleas to quiet down. "Let's give you the celebration you both deserve to have! To the happy couple: Mr. and Mrs. Stark!"

And just like that, with the cheering and clapping of everyone in the restaurant, the entire world found out about Tony Stark's and Pepper Potts's top-secret wedding.

Even if it was all just a poor-constructed, ill-timed lie.

xxxXXXxxx

She held her smile tightly in place throughout the metaphorical and literal pats on the back and congratulatory words from complete strangers at the restaurant. She kept her tongue in check while they wordlessly drove back to their hotel, hearing on the news radio all the fuss generated by the apparent leak of their _secret_ _wedding_. She politely nodded along and kept silent as everyone and anyone who recognized them waved and cheered at them on their way down the hall of the reception of the hotel, and also as they rode up the elevator to the penthouse they were staying in. She even had the grace to wait patiently for the front door to be locked behind her and for the coast to be cleared.

Yet, when Tony uttered the first word since his bout of what had essentially been verbal diarrhea at the restaurant, she was no longer able to hold back anymore.

"Oops," he flinched, grimaced, and then exhaled loudly through his nose.

"Oops?" she narrowed her eyes, the raging fire in them barely contained. "That's ALL you have to say for yourself? _Oops?!_ "

"I'm sorry?" he lifted his hands defensively and began taking steps backwards, since she was taking long strides towards his standing form; his eyes nervously shifting left and right as if searching for the nearest escape route.

"Did I hear you right? You're not _sure_ if you should be sorry?" she barked, not at all pleased with the questioning tone he had used to state his half-assed apology.

"I am?" he tried his best to sound sincere, but his replies continued to come out sounding rather insecure, no doubt due to the rising ire that he could see swelling in her.

"Tony… Tony, I swear… I… just…" she rubbed her face with her hands in desperation. " _We're married_?" she air-quoted the phrase. "We're _MARRIED_ _?_! That's ALL you could think to say to the jerk to make him shut up?!"

"Yes?"

"REALLY?!"

"Well, in my defense, the word _asshole_ also fought really hard to–"

"TONY!"

"OK, I'm sorry, Pepper! I really am! I didn't plan on it, alright? I didn't mean to just say it like that! Or at all! It just slipped out!"

"Just slipped out," Pepper said derisively and shook her head violently, her temples starting to throb.

"It did. I swear. I couldn't help it."

"Sure. Of course. It was inevitable. I mean: if only there was some way to think before one speaks."

"Pepper, come on. Please… I… it's not _that_ bad."

A piercing, icy glare that made him nervously pull on his collar was her only response.

"OK. Fine! Maybe it is a little bit bad. But, how does it _really_ affect you, honestly? It's just, you know, a little white lie? How bad can it really be?"

As if on cue, Pepper's phone began simultaneously ringing and alerting of incoming text messages, only for Tony's phone to then start mimicking hers. Pepper read the name of the caller, took in a deep breath, and then shoved the phone in Tony's face for him to read the screen.

"Do you see who that is?!"

"Tell your mother _hi_ for me."

"TONY!"

"OK, let me talk to her, then."

"No!" she pointed an angry finger at him. "You don't get to talk to anyone, again. _EVER_!"

"Good idea, honey. I agree. But how about we do that _after_ I call PR, huh?"

"To do what, exactly?" she lowered her arm with a huff.

"Damage control?" he shrugged. "I'll have them draft a retraction. Clarification. He was pretty fucking drunk, right? We can say that he just misunderstood me."

"He wasn't drunk."

"OK. Maybe _I_ was?"

"And what about me? Are you going to say that I didn't correct you, him, and everyone else at the restaurant because I was drunk too? On a business trip?"

"Uhm…"

"On a business trip that is supposed to win us the investors' buy-in because we're _so_ responsible?!"

"Well, if you put it that way–"

"OH, MY GOD! I'M GONNA HAVE A HEART ATTACK!" Pepper began hyperventilating, her hands landing on the sides of her face.

"Whoa, Pep! Calm down," he placed his hands on her shoulders. "It's gonna be alright. Breathe."

"It's NOT gonna be alright! We… we lied, Tony! YOU LIED! To the loudest mouth in the investor bunch!"

"And I'll fix it, OK? I'll make it all better. And you'll come out of it looking grandiose. I promise."

"How the hell is that even gonna happen?"

"Do you want some water? You look like you need some water. Let me get you some water."

"Half-cold, half-room temperature, please!"

"On it."

Tony walked towards the bar; purposefully disregarding a question that he knew he had no idea how to address. He knew that she was right: this was not going to look good for them, or for the company, no matter how it was sliced. There were multiple ways for the truth to come out – quickly and easily – and all available to anyone with a computer, Internet access, and two working brain cells. Court records. Public contracts. His business enemies. Any one of them could call them out on their lie in the blink of an eye. Anyone searching for their fifteen minutes of fame could cut short their six-week business trip. And with it at all, dissipate the last opportunity he had to be with her to try to make it all better.

It had only been a few weeks since an explosion at a U.N. conference and a battle between two Avengers factions had shaken the world, and he had been at the forefront of it all. Was the public's attention span really so short that he would have to deal with an international interest in his private, domestic life… _again_?

While he prepared the drink for her, she slowly sat down on the couch, her hands trembling so much that they could have claimed to be separate entities of their own. She could not believe the kind of mess Tony had just put them in. She just could not begin to see how they were going to get out of this one unscathed – threatening a terrorist and giving him your home address seemed like a walk in the park right about now. There was no going back. No undoing this mess-up with an ounce of dignity. No taking back what had been shouted loud enough for the Asgardians to hear.

The Board Members had probably already gotten word of it by now. And they were also probably wondering why they had been "lied" to.

Pepper rested her sweaty palms on her knees, her eyes fixed on the floor; her mind getting away from her. She was, for a second time, at the restaurant, hearing the conversation, word-for-word; reliving the moment Tony had opened his giant mouth to put his enormous foot inside of it. It was something he did on a regular basis – letting his emotions drive his actions and words, everything and everyone else be damned. He did it when his pride was wounded. He did it when the people he cared about were in pain. He did it because he loved more deeply and with much more devotion than anyone else gave him credit for. And he had done _this_ ; atop changing his detrimental ways and who he was, because of her.

 _"Didn't know_ _ **you**_ _knew what that word meant: consistency? I figured it would take you at least five more years with Ms. Potts to forget your bed-jumping days. The pleasure of inconsistency is hard to let go."_

 _"It takes half a second to settle when you find a woman you truly love."_

In moments like these, when she was inevitably pulled into cleaning up yet another blunder of his, she wished that he loved her more with his brain than with his heart.

She closed her eyes to slowly exhale some of her nervousness away, only to then open her eyelids once more when she felt Tony sit to her right. She watched him from the corner of her eye, almost dreading the conversation that she knew was to come. It was not going to be very pleasant or easy - and neither was what she knew they had to do now. Tony had just placed them in a very difficult situation – at the edge of a dark precipice while being chased by rabid canines; essentially having to choose between falling to their deaths or being eaten alive by once-friendly dogs.

The investors were the canines. The precipice was the downfall of the Foundation and their company as-a-whole. The only option they had was to hold onto their shareholders in any way and by any means. They just had to – the company was too big to suddenly fail. Their current investors were the last and only ones that had overlooked the fact that the brains behind the inventions that fattened their pockets could die in battle at any point. No one else dared to touch Stark Industries with a ten-foot pole. Especially not after signing the Accords and the subsequent fallout the Avengers had suffered as a result.

She was not sure what ideas he was currently considering to fix the situation, but she already knew what needed to be done. The solution was rather obvious, but not stress-free. The next step was clear and logical, but not welcome in this forceful way. This was not how she had hoped this phase of her life, if it ever came to her, would play out. This was not how she had envisioned it in her mind. She was about to go back on her word. Fuck up her carefully thought-out plans. She was about to do the one thing she had told herself she would not do, no matter what, and she did not like it one bit.

But she loved him more than what she did not like. She loved him more than her need to save face or protect her pride.

"Here," he warily handed her the opened bottle of water she had forgotten he had gone to fetch for her, and she took it with a thankful nod.

She swallowed down about half of the bottle in one go, not bothering to slow down to catch some air. She then licked her lips, capped the bottle, and sighed in broken breaths. Her eyes began stinging with quickly pooling tears of frustration, exacerbated when their phones began ringing in tandem once more, stopping only when Tony screamed at both devices to turn the fuck off. He had built Pepper a phone, one that was just like his highly-advanced one, a couple of years back. The option to control the device via voice commands was a lifesaver this very moment. He did not want her to feel even more pressure than he knew she already felt. And he most certainly did not want to walk away from her side just yet.

He needed her close by. She needed his support. They both needed each other right now. They needed to rely on one another, more than they had ever required it before.

He scratched his neck a couple of times. He cleared his throat and swallowed hard a handful more. And just as he had opened his mouth and was about to break the raw blanket of silence between them, Pepper spoke instead.

"We can't," she slowly shook her head from side to side and sighed.

"I know. I'm sorry. You… you made it pretty clear that you didn't want to marry me… and I… I…"

He groaned in annoyance at his palpable hesitation; angry at himself that he was struggling to say the words – to start making amends. He did not at all believe himself to be worthy of feeling dejected right now, but that did not keep his emotions from getting in the way of properly using his vocal chords. He _knew_ that this was all on him. _He_ had put them in this situation. _He_ had dragged her into a giant mess, yet again. _He_ had no right to protest about the repercussions the issue caused to his heart. _She_ was the one who had every right to bitch and moan and complain.

But fuck it all, it hurt. It _hur_ t saying and acknowledging these words aloud, so damn much.

"We can't," he repeated her words, eyelids almost completely closed. "We just can't. I know that."

"That's not what I meant."

He furrowed his brow, but he did not spare her a glance. And neither did he say anything else, which prompted her to continue clarifying her retort.

"Take it back," Pepper turned her head to stare at his crestfallen form. "We can't do that."

"Pepper…" he could feel her eyes on him, but he did not have the guts to face her just yet.

"It's done," she gulped. "There's no way for us to fix this and still win."

"I… there… there must be. I… I'm sorry, Pepper. I really am."

"Are you?" she half-smirked in disbelief, taking advantage of his unwillingness to look her in the eye.

"Yes. No. Sorta. Kinda. Mostly."

She flared her nostrils and looked away, almost hearing his thoughts before he made them known.

"I _AM_ sorry that I got us in this mess. Got _you_ in this mess. But I'm not sorry for telling him off. He's an ass. A misogynistic jerk. He had no right to say those things to you. About you. He doesn't know you. He needs to learn to respect you. He _will_ respect you. I'll make him. Sooner or later. Fuck his contribution to the Foundation. I'll force him to respect you, the son of a bitch."

Pepper held back a longwinded sigh at hearing him confirm her suspicions and thoughts. Yes. _This_ , as stupid as it was, was all he had thought about – the only thing that had driven his actions – before he had gone off on the jerk. What else would push him to irrationality? What could possibly nudge him enough to…

 _No._

She almost hated herself for doubting him; yet doubt had been what had driven her cruel actions of before.

"Do you… do you believe any of the things he said?"

"Of course not!" his head whipped up to face her, utterly shocked that she would even consider the possibility of it.

"Are you sure?"

"Do you even have to ask, Pep?"

"Then why does it matter, what he thinks?"

"It matters because he's wrong! Because… because you don't deserve this… because he's an ass, full of shit, and needs to shut the fuck up… because… because…" he straightened his back and ran his gaze down her face as he spoke. "Because… even if I can't be with you… that doesn't mean I want anyone to try to ruin the chances you may have to be happy with someone else. Whoever that might be. Unless it's him. Then, no. You can't be with him. You deserve so much better than him."

Pepper felt her throat close and her eyes sting again, so she looked away from his piercing stare. She busied her gaze with the ceiling while she pushed back the tears his confession had caused, looking back at him only when she felt more in control of her entire being and was ready to make a joke.

"Well," she shrugged. "Don't you think that being _secretly married_ to you, kinda also ruins the chances of me being with someone else?"

"Mmhh…" he blinked several times, his eyes wide in sudden realization. "Yeah. Huh… I… I-I… yeah. But, uhm, I mean… there's… always divorce, right? Isn't that all the rave right now among celebrities? Being the quickest ones to divorce? Fucking stupid competition of some sort. In fact–"

Her right hand intertwining with his left one made him stop his rambling.

"I don't approve of this."

"You don't approve of this."

"But I get why you did it."

"But you get why I did it."

"And I haven't thought it all the way through."

"That's your specialty, babe. So we're pretty much screwed, if you haven't."

This time, her left palm on his mouth forced him to remain silent, and her eyes on his made his heart nearly beat to a stop.

"We'll figure out how to fix it later. We'll just have to run with it for now. And you're right: a divorce wouldn't exactly be a _shocking_ ending for us. But we gotta do what we must. That's what we told the board we would do, so that's what's gonna happen now."

He slowly pulled her hand away from his face and narrowed his eyes at her.

" _What's_ gonna happen now?"

"We make it true," she shrugged. "We… we get married. Right now. Backdate the proof to before today. You know people, right? You can get it done. You can make it happen. I know you can."

It took him nearly a minute to process her words, and another long moment for his body to stop trembling. He then shook his head from side to side and pulled away from her completely to stand up and pace around.

"No, Pepper. I can't make you do this. I'll… just give me a few hours to think this through. I'll come up with something better."

"Tony, killing or disappearing Raul is not better."

"That's NOT what I was going to suggest!"

"Wasn't it?"

He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before replying again.

"Can you stop reading my mind, woman?!"

A knowing yet defeated half-smirk was her only reply. She knew she was right – even if she did not want herself to be. And she also knew that he knew this was the only option for them. She just had to wait a few more seconds for him to fully accept it as a fact.

"Ugh," Tony's shoulders suddenly deflated in reluctant approval before he sat down next to her again.

"Glad to know you're looking forward to this," she jested, her own discomfort with the topic forcing her to joke at a time like this.

"I was," he flared his nostrils. "When it looked like it was going to be the real deal."

"I know… I know this is not what you wanted."

"It _is_ what I wanted. Just, not HOW I wanted it."

"Tony," she whispered as her hands cupped his face. "I'm sorry. I really am."

Tony nodded, closed his eyes, and then inwardly sighed when her forehead touched his.

"I am too," he whispered back, his hands finding the sides of her face. "But I promise you, Pep… it'll be the best fake marriage you've ever had."

She pulled away from him and gave him a sad smile; his words hurting her more than soothing her – a feeling that only grew more when he pulled her in for a long hug.

Was an engagement not supposed to be the best day of one's life?

For Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, it would surely appear that having _two_ of them would not make the cut.

xxxXXXxxx

He was not ready to face the music, but he was also looking forward to getting this over and done. Raul Contreras had not been joking about throwing a party for him, an ostentatious one at that – and he had done so a lot quicker than either of them had thought he could. The very next day, in fact; leaving the billionaire and the redhead with an extremely limited amount of time to prepare for their big night.

One of his armored suits had flown from home and over to their current location with the original engagement ring that he had once before offered Pepper, as well as the wedding rings he had been holding onto along with it. The pieces of jewelry were not new and could not be traced back to a purchase date; as they had once belonged to Maria and Howard Stark. His parents' rings – the Stark family heirlooms; now rested inside his left hand.

Backdating a legal marriage document had been, as Pepper had suspected of Tony, nothing more than a piece of cake. Unbeknownst to her until this morning, Happy Hogan had been ordained a few months back, under Tony's request, with the ultimate goal of their friend being their officiant at the wedding that never took place. All the marriage documents had been ready for them back then, and realizing how sure Tony had been that she was going to agree to his marriage proposal both angered and hurt her. It angered her that he had been so presumptuous about the whole ordeal; assuming she would say yes without a pause and that they would marry almost immediately. Yet, being honest with herself, had the situation been any different, she completely would have said _yes_ on the spot. And it hurt her because it also reminded her of how devoted he had been to her and what they had had together. Perhaps a lot more devoted than she had thought herself to be.

 _Of course, he was_ , Pepper had thought, with a certain amount of guilt, when he had told her about Happy Hogan's interesting path to becoming ordained while hiding said goal from her to not ruin the surprise. Which, in turn, the story had only served to remind her of the _other_ things she had by chance found out that Tony had done before he had asked her if she wanted to say: _I do_. Things that had left her feeling cold and remorseful – things that had made her skip the MIT event altogether, without much explanation on her part to him, if just to avoid breaking down in front of him when he was to call her to the stage.

The early drafts of the speech she had accidentally found in his office that morning had had him refer to her as his fiancée – with a correction on the side of said term, scratching the previously printed word and handwriting, with a question mark, the term _wife_.

Yes. Tony Stark had been ready to settle, with her, at the drop of a hat.

 _"It takes half a second to settle when you find a woman you truly love."_

It had not really taken him half a second, in the literal sense, but Pepper knew that after more than five years of officially being together, Tony had remained faithful to her all that time. That prolonged loyalty, plus going as far as popping the ultimate question to her, was the equivalent of fully and conclusively committing to a relationship in _half a second_ to the man he had once been. So much so that he had planned their wedding and honeymoon in advance, finally cancelling said plans only a couple of weeks before the MIT event. He had held on, for months after they had broken up, to the hope that they would get to enjoy the big celebration he had been planning to surprise her with after he proposed. He had even had their lawyer draft documents leaving the entire Stark fortune to her, and to _any and all children she may bear for him_ , all without questions, exceptions or caveats. He had not only planned the wedding of the decade… he had also prepared for the life ahead of them by ensuring his untimely death did not leave her and their future children with only the clothes on their back.

It had been that particular legal document, the one where he left her in charge of his legacy; the one paper she had not known existed until that morning of the MIT affair, that had sent her rushing back home instead of joining him at the symposium she had promised she would attend with him. There he had been, hoping that, if his Iron Man adventures killed him, she and whatever family they built together was not left to fend for themselves.

Pepper inwardly scolded herself with the self-revulsion she felt with her thoughts as she opened the master bedroom door, where she had been sleeping, and joined a pensive-looking Tony Stark in the living room, where he had been sleeping. All this time, she had thought that Tony had been more dedicated to his perpetual duty as a member of his group of _Earth's Mightiest Heroes_ than he had been at being with her. She had thought that she had been doing _him_ a favor when leaving him. She had believed it had been for the best. And yet, the reality of it all, was that she had only been thinking about herself.

"I'm ready," she told him before reaching him, if just to catch his attention before she accidentally startled him, and he raised his head ever so slightly to acknowledge her presence. She noticed the way his eyes widened for an instant, and how his eyes all but undressed her while he looked at her up and down, taking in every inch of her body in that fitting, black dress. At this point in their lives, she had honestly thought there was no clothing item left on the planet that could still make him do a double-take on her. Evidently, she was once again wrong.

And, evidently, he had once again realized she had caught him looking.

He pulled his gaze away from her, finding something else to look at while he gathered his thoughts. She stood there, watching him intently, while he reigned in whatever else was clearly distressing him right now.

"Almost ready," he finally said, and then grimaced in that way that told her he was about to do or say something that made him uncomfortable – or something that he knew would make her upset.

"You look ready," she observed, her right index finger lazily pointing at his form.

"Not yet. Either of us, I mean. We aren't quite ready yet."

He patted the space to his right and she slowly sat next to him on the couch, her heart beating just a tad faster due to the tension she could feel in the air. He cleared his throat, scratched a non-existent itch on his left knee, and then turned to the side so that he was facing her as much as it was possible from their sideways-sitting positions.

"Should I… or should you?"

Pepper frowned for a moment, unsure as to what he was trying to convey to her. His physical contextual clues were garbled, more so than his seemingly disconnected words were, until he hesitantly opened his left hand to show her the rings he had been almost crushing within it. She immediately recognized the engagement ring she had rejected from him, only to then hold back a guilty groan when she also recognized the set of wedding rings.

"No time to get new ones?" she asked as casually as possible as she grabbed the engagement ring and slid it on the appropriate finger, not once looking at his face lest the ghost of pain caused by sad memories still haunted his features.

"Never intended on getting new ones."

"Oh."

She watched him in silence as he placed the smaller ring on his right knee and then slid the larger ring on his left hand. His gaze focused on said ring, a million wishful thoughts drowning his typically logical brain, not reconnecting to the real world until he felt Pepper grabbing the other ring from his lap. He spared her a swift glance, not wanting to see her do the job he was supposed to do, but her loud gasp forced him to stare at her.

He followed her line of sight and knitted his brow in concentration as he tried to decipher what had shocked her just now. She had not put it on yet, so it could not be that it did not fit – he had made sure that it did. This was not the real deal, so her huff could have not come from a place of actual happiness with their current situation. It had been _her_ idea to play pretend, too, so he could not attribute her look of discomfort to being forced into doing something she did not want – even if, technically, she was doing something she had previously declined.

It took him another short moment to figure it out, but once it hit him; once he realized what had taken her ragged breath away, he grimaced once more before he spoke.

"Sorry," he anxiously rubbed his right index finger against his forehead. "Forgot I did _that_ … gotten them engraved. Don't… don't read it, OK? Just…"

 _Too late_ , she wanted to say aloud. It _was_ too late.

The writing was almost too small. It needed to be in order to fit such a long sentence. But it was not the strain her eyes had had to rely upon to read the line that was making her eyes water. It was the message itself. It was the greater message the simple phrase carried with it.

"Tony… Tony, I can't… I just can't…"

"Hey, hey! None of that," he grabbed the ring from her when he saw her nearly drop it on her lap and then reached for her left hand. "We got a job to do, right? Just focus on the job, Pep. Be done before you know it."

"But, Tony… this… I… I never meant for you to–"

"Don't know wadja talking about, single lady. I'm just temporarily putting a ring on it."

He tenderly yet firmly held her hand as he began to slide the ring on her finger, pretending that she did not feel he was shaking as much as he could feel her trembling. She felt even more shamefaced than she had already felt before setting her foot outside the master bedroom door. She had not only broken his heart and ruined the first time he had ever truly hoped to do right by a woman, she also now felt that she was soiling something that was so pure and so precious to him. His parents' wedding rings, the only things he had left of them, had been readied for him and her to carry for the rest of their lives, and she had all but tossed them back at him with her words and breakup.

Thankfully for them, the entire uncomfortable affair was over quickly, all in an effort to avoid the awkwardness and wave of overwhelming emotions his current task was causing him. She wanted to scream apologies at him; get down on her knees and beg him for forgiveness for even considering it their only option to go through their fake marriage, knowing how much harm and emotional scarring it could cause them, but her voice refused to work. She had anticipated the phony act would bring back unwanted memories and sentiments to both. What she had not seen coming was the truly immense magnitude of it all.

It was severe, crippling, and crushing, the cascade of misery she could sense flowing out from every pore in him. This was clearly more than just unbelievably painful for him. It was raw anguish and despair nibbling on his heart and soul, gnawing them to death. It was a fatal illness. A debilitating and widely spread cancer outbreak in his body. It was taking over everything, including itself, and taking it all down with its own demise.

This was not fair, what she was making them go through. It was not fair to them, but it was especially not fair for him. This was all one colossal mistake. One huge clusterfuck of bad decisions after bad decisions. She fucking loved him, more than she had ever imagined she could love someone. Needed him. Wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She had just made one wrong choice that had spiraled it all out of control. And he was paying the price more than she was. She was the reason he was slowly falling apart.

This had to end. Right about fucking now. They could not go through with this. _This_ was a greater mistake than lying to him about the short existence of his would-be child. Or that his hero actions in Sokovia had caused her to lose it. Or keeping it to herself that she had, as a result, made sure that she would never be able to bear him another child.

It was insulting to him, she knew that now, to have made such an important decision without consulting with him first. It was her body and it was her choice, but the aftermath also affected his life. This man had been willing, able, and ready to have a family with her, and he had the right to know the truth.

She had to tell him. She had to come clean. She had to clear things up with him and accept whatever fate or punishment he thought she was worthy of. He did not deserve any of this. He had suffered enough. She was supposed to be his saving grace; the one thing that cheered him up and proved to him that the world could be a better place. But she had failed him in that regard. She had utterly and completely fucked it up. And now she had the gonads to expect him to wave and smile in front of people, pretending that she had not walked all over his heart.

 _I was pregnant_ , her mind was screaming. _I was pregnant and I lost it and I love you and I'm sorry for not telling you that!_

There was a chance he would understand her. Not hate her. Forgive her, perhaps. But there was also a chance he would react like any reasonable human being in his position by telling her to kindly jump off a bridge and die.

She opened her mouth a few times, gulped a handful more, but her thoughts and torturing emotions got away from her before she could do or say anything at all.

"It's not a big deal, Pepper," he stood up from the couch and began walking away from her and towards the front door, his cell phone in hand.

"Tony…"

"It's just tonight. And then a few weeks after that. We'll be back home in no time. Forget this ever happened. Move on with our lives."

"But, Tony, I–"

"Please, Pep," he gave his back to her and briefly rested his palm against the door, as if his legs were suddenly unable to hold his weight and he needed support. "Please don't say anything else."

Her mouth instantly snapped shut on its own accord and she nodded even though he was not looking at her. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, yet as silently as possible to not call much attention to herself. She needed to calm the hell down and to hold it together for the both of them tonight. She needed to delay her repentant confession so that it was made at a time when they were not about to be in the midst of a crucial business affair. She knew that Tony had even less of a hold on himself when he was emotionally compromised. This was how this new mess they were currently in had started in the first place. There was no sense in escalating what was already making holes through roofs.

"I need a moment," Pepper said, her hand clutching the wedding ring within it. "Is that OK?"

"Of course. I'll be downstairs. The... the limousine…" he stared at his phone, "It's already waiting for us. I'll have it pick you up through the back. Don't want to call even more unwanted attention, right?"

"Right," Pepper replied.

"See you in five."

Not a second later, Tony made his escape from the situation at hand, leaving the redhead inside an empty and impossibly large room that felt as if it was succeeding at suffocating her without much of a try.

Her hands trembled as she held onto her wedding ring and pulled it off her finger, only to then hold it inside her opened hand for another long, silent moment; the engraved words repeatedly stabbing at her heart. She took in deep, calming breaths and exhaled just as slowly, bracing herself for the long night she knew they would have.

It was not until her five minutes were almost up that she had gathered enough courage to give the painful legend one last sad glance before she slid the ring back on her finger yet again. She took her palms to her chest, swallowed hard, and then stood up from the couch with a newfound determination of excelling at what she and Tony had to do tonight. It was the least she could do for him. For helping him with carrying on the dream he had. For proving to him that she would be there when he needed her, just as she had promised him that she would be, no matter what.

Proof that she could do the impossible for him; just as the ring she was wearing was evidence of what his perceived reality was – just as the inscription itself said what _she_ was of _him_.

Proof.

Undeniable proof.

 _Proof that Pepper Potts has my heart._

* * *

 **A/N:** Forgot to say this: I DON'T HATE SPAIN! OR SPANIARDS! OR CHRISTIANS! I LOVE EVERYONE! This Raul guy just served my purposes here. He actually behaves like someone I know from work. Most of the stuff Raul said here is stuff this coworker of mine has told me. Sigh. He's such a bother to be around. SPAIN FTW! :)

 **Thank you for the favorite/follow:** _pepperonyaddict_ , _TreeHuggers111_ , _Ashlee Swift_ ,and _doggy bye_.

 **MarieLecter: Oh how I wish it was true! Mr &Mrs Stark... it sounds just perfect! Writte soon! ;)** – It DOES sound perfect! Better than, say, Tony and Aunt May Stark. Ugh! I recently watched the trailer for Homecoming. I was very disappointed that there was no mention of Pepperony on it.

 **KymEsk: Cada vez hay más misterio y mas tensión. Me dejas intrigada. Este fic alimenta mis ganas de PEPPERONY ya que no se que pasara en el MCU. Espero con ansias el próximo capítulo. Pobre Tony intenta hacer las cosas bien pero todo se vuelve en su contra y Pepper es en mi oipinión su alma gemela. Quiero ver romance y honestidad. Cuidate** – ¡Disculpa la espera eternal! Creo que te encantará este capitulo :D

 **lillily: I can't wait to read more - it's written so well, and the suspense of wanting to know more is killing me! That being said, I was a little confused at the purpose of the dream-sequence. I'm hoping that more will be explained later and it wasn't just there for some action. Keep up the great work and update soon! –** The dream-sequence had a specific purpose that I am almost certain I will abandon for something else. It wasn't even supposed to be a dream; but then an idea popped into my head that made the sequence more appropriate to make it a dream. I was looking forward to some action, but then realized what we really want is probably just plain ole Pepperony ;)

 **Guest: When will you update? I am anxious to say the least. Pls write more. Thank you so much for this! I really love it. –** Sorry it's taking so long. I have a week off from work this week, so I hope I can get some more writing done ^_^

 **Lintanya: Hola, me encanta esta historia, especialmente porque arregla ese desastre llamado Civil War, donde separaron a mi pareja favorita. Gracias por escribirla –** Gracias a ti por leer y comentar :) Este año fue patético para todos mis ships, empezando por este. Es mi favorito y el MCU lo mandó al caño :(

 **A/N:** Thank you all for your continued support, my Faithful Readers. 2016 is not done with me, so I apologize for my long absence. On top of everything I had shared with you before, the winter break has not been kind to me either. Long story short: I was pregnant – 4 or 5 weeks, to be exact. Now I am not – biology said _no_. Still recovering and feeling exhausted and out of it. Not sure when I'll have the chance to update again. I'm working on getting my groove back (my mood's all over the place). Been reading a lot of fics. Hanging out TWD forums. Took a vacation. Sleeping a lot. But 2017 is around the corner. Gotta move on. I will.

I hope 2017 brings all of you love, happiness and satisfaction :D I miss you all, my Faithful Readers, so very much.

 **Thank you for the favorite/follow:** _FifteenpointstoGryffindor_ , _CmHotchnissGeek101_ , _Elisabpshady_ , _Shadestriker27_ , and _Life Can't Be Normal_.

 **Stark13: Really happy with this new chapter ! I need more ! Hope it will be happier for Tony in next chapters Can't wait to read more Thanks –** Thanks for reading, reviewing and waiting for an update :D I am trying to organize myself a little more and have started to write a timeline and outline for this fic. I typically have the entire outline of a story done before I even start it, but this one was a _spur of the moment_ fic. I want it to be of quality and good for you all, though, so I can't promise more timely updates until I have a clear path. I know where it's going and how it can get there, but not all the pieces are there yet. I really, really, REALLY appreciate how patient you and everyone else has been with me, though. PEPPERONY FOREVER!

 **KymEsk: Hola. Estoy emocionada con cada capítulo que sale. Aunque me gustaría que fueran más seguido. pero no se puede todo en esta vida. Por cierto has checado las últimas noticias de Pepper Pottss en el UCM. Yo estoy emocionada ya que el parecer tenemos a Pepper de regreso. Y la misma Gwyneth es quien lo dice. Gwyneth Paltrow: Aclaró que aún tiene obligaciones contractuales con Marvel, con "creo que es Avengers o Captain America, una de esas". AHHHH! por cierto que curioso que decidieras escribir este fic en inglés, ya que en español no hay muchos. Ojalá y en algún momento lo publiques en español o decidas hacer uno. Te mando un gran abrazo. Yo me siento muy emocionada y espero nuevas noticias. PEPPERONY 3** – Vale más que regrese Pepper y que los reunan. Digo, es lo mínimo que deben hacer por nosotros, los fans :P Tengo algunos fic en Español, pero no de UCM Pepperony, sino de Iron Man: Aventuras de Hierro Pepperony Tal vez en el futuro traduzca mis historias de UCM Pepperony, pero ahorita me pondría contenta con poder actualizar mas seguido


	5. Chapter 4: Madrid, Part 2

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Thank you for the favorite/follow:** _Aolympia, , WangKairu, Atlas941, alexaalex719, HelloCath, AcerVentus672,_ and _LyraLetter._

 **STEFANIE: NEXT CHAPTER FAST PLEASE, I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS** – SORRRY! I hope I'm forgiven with this one :)

 **Stark13: Really enjoy your writing, it's just wonderful. Feelings of Tony and Pepper, the story. Thanks for this, best fic ever !** \- *blushes* Thank you! These two dorks are just adorable to write.

 **MarvelLuver: oh my gosh your writing is so amazingly perfect! You capture the characters exactly how they should be and this story OMG. This fic means so much to me PLEASE NEVER STOP333 I would die if you put in some other avengers in here or gave Iron man some action**! – Thank you ^_^ I've gotten soooo much better organized with future chapters (already know how many and what is gonna happen and when). There is _some_ action later on. I think you're gonna be ecstatic about it when it shows up.

 **Alexa: Omg.I love this fic please update soon,I can't wait to know what's going to writing is amazing** – Thank you so much! I think you'll be thrilled with this chapter :)

 **Guest: This fic is so amazing! I love it! I'm just really anxious for the next chapter!** – Hello, lovely new Faithful Reader! No angst for this chapter, I promise.

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Madrid, Part 2**

Was it guilt or was it a sense of duty?

Was it logic or an emotional response?

Was she playing pretend or pretending to play?

For the life of her, she could not be sure.

And for the life of him, neither could he.

And maybe, right now, neither of them gave a damn that they could not.

The entire night they had been holding hands. Walking together. Laughing together. Dancing together. Charming the guests… together.

It was as if they had never been apart.

It was as if this was not the fakest marriage in the history of mankind.

But it was probably not as fake as the hardly restrained, not-so polite smile Tony Stark had on his face right now. Or at least, this was what Tony himself called it. Pepper, on the other hand, called it his: _I'm-about-to-beat-someone's-rude-ass_ smile.

She held tighter onto his right arm with both of her own for good measure, as she knew this was the arm he preferred to use to punch someone in the face.

"I'm sorry, Jack. Come again?"

"Captain America, Stark," Jack Dobson, the investor that had a liking of leaving his newborn son and exhausted wife back at home to spend the time parading his mistress at parties such as this, repeated his question to the billionaire. "What do you think about his betrayal?"

"I typically don't have an opinion on things that never happened," Tony replied. "What looked like betrayal turned out to be misdirection on Zemo's part."

"Awfully convenient, don't you think?" Jack half-asked, half-stated before he sipped from the martini in his hand.

"That the truth came up? Yeah, I think so. I've done horrible things I'm not proud of. Didn't really want to add _sending an honest man to a floating prison_ to it."

"Come on, Stark, let's be honest here," Jack placed a hand on Tony's left shoulder. "Between you and me, knowing you have insider knowledge and all, did Captain America really commit treason?"

"He didn't," Tony said between gritted teeth as Jack pulled his hand away from Tony's shoulder while he shook his head in disbelief.

"But then, why did the media report that you and he threw punches at each other at an airport? If he was innocent, then why did you fight him? Or why did he fight back? He knew he was guilty, that's why he resisted arrest."

"Why do people get arrested before being proven guilty, Mr. Dobson?" Pepper interjected, a wry smile on her face. "Why don't we just allow people to stay at their homes, go on with their lives, and wait for a trial and verdict first? Why do some people get jail time while they wait for judgement from a jury of their peers?"

"Because there are varying degrees of crimes, and you can't risk a high-profile criminal to be out in the streets, Ms. Potts – _Mrs._ Stark, I mean. I get that part. But I also get that vigilantes are as capable of committing the same crimes that the people they try to stop do themselves. I just don't believe that Steve Rogers wasn't a traitor to his country. If he had been tried in England, he would've been sent to prison, where he belongs. People accused of crimes are more likely to have committed them than not. The system is already rigged enough in favor of criminals. Letting Steve Rogers go unscathed just made it be even more in favor of letting these so-called superheroes go free. I mean, just look at the Iron Man suit of armor issue. Tony got away with keeping a high-tech weapon at home!"

 _It's actually a high-tech prosthesis_ , Tony wanted to say, but he was too angry to risk opening his mouth just yet.

"Huh," Pepper placed a placating hand on Tony's twitching arm. "I'm happy that you're a man of such strong conviction, Mr. Dobson."

"Well, someone has to be the good guy, right?"

"Of course. I completely agree," the redhead continued, a small smirk forming on her lips. "Say, what's the punishment in England for engaging in adultery?"

Jack nearly choked on his drink at her words.

"What? Why… uhm… what?"

"Well, you know, a marriage is a legal agreement, correct? Breaking a legal contract has repercussions. Maybe not in a criminal court, but definitely in a civil one, particularly _monetary_ repercussions against the offending party."

"I… I'm not sure what you're trying to imply here, Mrs. Stark, or how this relates to Captain America's unpunished betrayal. But I take offense to it."

"Oh, you do? Why is that?" Pepper tilted her head to the side in a way that Tony knew meant she was about to deliver a death sentence to a poor, unsuspecting soul.

"I'm not cheating on my wife."

"I never said you did."

"But your question implies it."

"Perhaps it did, but since you're innocent, why are you fighting me on this?"

"I'm not fighting you on anything."

"You said you took offense."

"Because I did."

"And why did you?"

"Because you accused me of cheating on my wife and threatened to do something about it."

"But you believe you're innocent, so why does it matter what I say?"

"Because you're wrong and I won't stand for this falsehood."

"Excellent!" Pepper smiled, even though they both knew he was lying through his teeth. "Then I guess now you understand why Steve fought back."

Jack opened his mouth to continue the argument, but nothing spewed out. He pursed his lips instead, took in a deep breath, and then cleared his throat loudly a few times while leaving the glass of unfinished martini on the tray of a passing waiter.

"Lovely chat, but I have to go."

"Well, that's a shame," Pepper was now the one to wear a fake smile of understanding. "But I'm sure your wife and son are waiting for you to go back. It is quite late. Don't want to keep you from getting home to your family."

Jack Dobson narrowed his eyes, his tone of voice and posture betraying the true meaning and intent of his next words. "Congratulations on your wedding. And good luck."

The couple remained silent until Jack Dobson was out of sight and earshot, and only then did the two of them glance at each other before laughing aloud.

"Wanna ditch this borefest and go somewhere else?" Tony asked after drying tears of mirth from his cheeks.

"Yup!"

"Where do you wanna go, Pep?"

"Anywhere you want."

xxxXXXxxx

Anywhere he wanted to go had led them to a national park; at an hour that she was certain was past curfew for the public location, especially for tourists. However, neither of them had seemed to care. And neither had the security guard that Tony had bribed to let them come inside in their limousine and stay after dark. Any other time, she would have frowned at Tony's antics but, right now, at this very moment, she just wanted to think about something other than the guilt and fear that were trying to consume her.

So far, so good.

They both currently sat on the trunk of the long vehicle, legs dangling from the edge of it, their bare feet on the back bumper, and their shoes placed atop the roof of the vehicle. They were sharing what was left of a bag of assorted native snacks they had picked up on their way here, taking turns chewing bites off the single, odd-looking piece of bread. They had tried to stick with food items that looked close to what they were used to eating, but the salesman had recommended they tried his most famous item on the menu. It had not looked at all appetizing to them, so they had bought only one single piece of it, if only to be polite.

They were both regretting that decision just about now.

"If I'd known this was gonna be this tasty, I'd gotten us more than just this one."

"I'm just glad you're sharing," Pepper licked her sugar-coated fingers, something that was unusual for her, but the treat was just plain worthy of poor manners. "You don't like to share food."

"Whatever. Filthy lying lies," he bit on the surprisingly good-tasting gluten-free pastry before handing it back to her. "I share my food with you all the time."

"Have you forgotten about the waffle incident?" she teased.

"Jury's still out on that one," he shrugged. "Technically, I didn't NOT share it with you. I just… ate it before you did."

Pepper scoffed and rolled her eyes, reluctantly returning the snack to his hands. "It was the last batch of waffles and you had heard me say the night before that I was gonna make them for myself the next day!"

"I was half-asleep, Pepper. Decisions made while lacking full mental capacities cannot be held against anyone. I don't think I'm fit enough to stand trial on that one."

"Oh, boy. Should I expect your attorneys to come by soon?" she rolled her eyes again, but also gave him a one-sided smirk, before accepting the bread from him once more.

"Speaking of attorneys and trials," he cleared his throat and spoke while he chewed. "Way to let Jack have it, Pep. I wanted to punch his perfect teeth more than I wanted to punch Rogers's, at some point."

"I noticed."

"It probably would've hurt his pride less than calling him out on his cheating."

"Ugh! Don't praise what I did! I'm so stupid! It's gonna be a joy to go to officially visit him in England next," she grimaced. "I should've just kept my mouth shut until then."

"Hey, it's the last of it," Tony said when the leftover of the bread was returned to his hands and he stared at it intensely while Pepper continued her speech of remorse.

"I'm such a hypocrite, huh? I claimed that you needed to think before you told Raul about our supposed secret wedding just to spite him, and there I went and did the same to Jack about Steve."

"But you didn't lie. Jack _is_ having an affair. Bet Melanie knows it, too. 'sides, guy's full of shit," Tony shrugged, his eyes still on the bread in his hands. "And Steve… is not."

After another second or two of deliberation, Tony split the last tiny bite of the bread in two, and then handed half of it to Pepper.

"Here," he aimed the piece to her mouth, "Can't say I don't share my food with you. Here's for the waffles I ate."

Pepper eyed the bite with feigned mistrust.

"If I take you up on your offering, can I use it as evidence of accepting wrongdoing on your part?" she smiled.

"Uhm… no?"

"No?"

"No," he said more firmly before chuckling another response. "OK, maybe."

"I'll take it," Pepper replied and then opened her mouth to allow Tony to feed her the half of the bread. He followed the gesture by popping the other half into his mouth, both savoring the last of the delicious treat before licking the remnants of it from their fingers.

"So," Pepper swept sugar from her dress with her hands, "What _did_ happen to Steve? To the Avengers? I… you… want… want to talk about that?"

Tony looked away from her and towards the tree line, his eyes narrowed, as if lost in thought. He took so long to respond in any way, that the ginger firmly believed he was going to decline the invitation to talk about what had been the latest and greatest worse moment of his superhero life. She was not sure of the details of what had transpired with Steve and the other Avengers, other than what she had gathered from the news: it had not gone well for a while, it had gotten half of them arrested, it had gotten a King killed, and Tony suited up again, even if he had sworn he was a non-combat member of the Avengers now.

She knew that the media, as evidenced by Jack Dobson's unpleasant conversation, did not know a tenth of what had actually taken place a few weeks back. When she and Tony were still together, she had felt torn between wanting to know every single detail of what was happening to him and those he fought crime with, and not wanting to know a single thing other than a final summary that included the phrase: _Tony is alive_. Now that they were apart, and despite this fake marriage, she was aware that he did not owe her any explanation. It was all his choice now, to let her know what crossed his mind. Even as friends, or whatever they were right now, she had no right to expect him to pour his heart out to her. Which, of course, did not mean at all that she did not care if he did not.

She had almost given up waiting for him to say anything at all, even if it was an offhanded _I don't wanna talk about it_ , when the inventor suddenly slid up on the trunk so that his back now rested against the back glass of the vehicle and his legs no longer swayed from the edge. Pepper took it as a sign that he was willing to open up to her about his ordeal, even if just a little, so she shifted slightly towards her right and swiveled in place so that she could somewhat face him. In response, however, he patted the space next to him before helping her mimic his position to his left.

It took him another minute or so to order his thoughts, deciding which parts and how much he should be sharing with her at the moment. Once he started speaking, however, Pepper made sure to show him that she was paying full attention to whatever he had to say and that she had no intention to judge or interrupt.

"Steven didn't want to sign the Accords. He was against them. He… he knew exactly what giving up our independence meant, no matter how I tried to paint it for him. I thought… I thought I did, too. I thought it would be OK. I thought it was the right thing to do. The only thing that we could do, to make sure we didn't end up fucking up more than we fixed things."

Tony took a moment to pull on his tie, leaving it loose enough to keep it from annoying him but also tight enough that it still hung from his neck.

"We were given two choices: join or retire. Wanda, Steve, Sam and Clint decided to retire. Vision, Rhodey, Natasha and myself, we decided to sign the damn thing. Don't know what Thor or Bruce would've chosen. And it's not like we could've placed a collect call to them to find out."

The last part made them flare their nostrils and scoffed in slight humor, but they both knew that there was nothing truly funny about the events they were talking about.

"Long story short: Steve was right. Winter Soldier… Bucky… Steve's friend, was framed by this guy who hates us. His name is Helmut Zemo. Helmut J. Zemo. I mean, who names their kid like that, right? It's like they were _asking_ him to become a villain."

Pepper gave him a small, comforting smile to praise him for his efforts, knowing that he was making jokes because he was uncomfortable with the topic of conversation but kept on. This was what he always did when he was on the verge of opening up to someone about something that had hurt him – that _still_ hurt him. Hell, he still could not talk about the night his parents had died with a straight face, and that had been over two decades ago.

"That's how Steve got labeled as a traitor, for defending and supporting his friend. He never believed that it had been Bucky who had plotted to kill King T'Chaka when the Accords were supposed to become official. Didn't matter that there was video evidence and all signs pointed to him. He didn't buy it once. He fought it all until the end."

The redhead had an idea of what he was going to say next, of how much it pained him to have been in the middle of such a fiasco while rooting for the wrong team. It took forever for Tony to truly trust anyone and, if that trust was suddenly broken, the walls tended come back up again; this time made of steel and not wood. However, if he had been in the wrong in the first place, and his actions had caused more harm than good… Pepper just knew that he would carry that guilt with him until the day he died.

"Zemo wanted revenge for his family dying during the Sokovia incident. He blamed all of us. The Avengers. He was the one that killed the King. Framed Bucky. Made me think that–"

He paused abruptly and hung his head, looking up only when Pepper placed her right hand on his left one, stroking the back of it with her thumb. She did not smile, however, and neither did she tell him that he was innocent here, because they both knew that he was not. She knew that this was not what he wanted to hear. She knew that lying to him would not exonerate him from his mistakes – no matter how much either of them would have loved for that to be the case.

"It had to be that way," she finally said when it became clear that he was not going to finish his story tonight. "It sounds like it was messy as heck, but things happen in the way they're supposed to happen. Not in the way we wanted them to go."

The implication of her words was that there was nothing he could have done differently to prevent the events. Nothing at all that would have altered the final result. Life was what it was, no matter how much one kicked, cried or screamed.

He remained still and quiet for nearly a minute, their eyes locked on one another, no doubt processing each other's words. Her stance on the matter had been simple and unassuming; just as it always tended to be when his superhero faults left him with more headaches than what the job was worth. He knew that she was aware that his actions would forever haunt him; eat him inside. And they both knew that there was nothing to do about the past but reminiscence and learn.

He gave her a grateful smile as he placed his right hand on hers and then leaned forward to place a chaste kiss on her cheek.

"Thanks, Pep."

"What I'm here for," she whispered before he pulled away. They then both rested their back against the glass, fingers laced, and silently admired the dark sky above.

xxxXXXxxx

 _Two investors down…_

Tony tapped his electric shaver against his palm, above the sink, before he returned his eyes to his image in the mirror.

… _ten to go_.

The billionaire was meticulously trimming his signature goatee in the penthouse's master bathroom while Pepper took a hot shower in the barely see-through stall behind him – the same one he had used, minutes ago, to try to wake himself up. The same one that the redhead was now using for the same goal.

He had been meaning to groom himself for a couple of days now. Yet, so far, their schedules and after-encounters had been so crazy that, as soon as they had returned to their temporary living quarters – and given that they did not get into a heated argument – they had had just enough energy to change into their pajamas and crash.

That had been the case last night, sans the pajama changing part, when they had returned to the hotel just a few hours before sunrise after spending most of their time together stargazing and chatting at the park. They had been so exhausted when they had stumbled into the hotel room, that neither of them had cared that they had practically stripped in front of each other and had gone to sleep, in the same bed, in nothing but their underwear. They had even left a trail of clothes from the door to the mattress, not caring about what the mess could be interpreted as when the lights came on. Then again, they were supposed to be married, anyway; haphazardly discarded clothing items were to be expected.

Moreover, it was not as if there had been anything exposed that either of them had not already seen of the other many times in the past. Although, at this juncture, the appropriateness of the behavior itself was questionable, to say the least, even if the rest of the world thought them to be wed. Nevertheless, when one had been out all day at an annoying party listening to fake politeness and passive-aggressive comments, and had then spent most of the night hanging out with a _friend_ , it was difficult to give a rat's ass if your _friend_ saw you in your underclothes as you unceremoniously crawled into bed.

Not three hours after their arrival, their blaring cell phone alarms had made them groan in frustration, reminding them that they still had a full day to spend in the company of Raul Contreras. They just could not wait for the end of the day to hit so that they could be on their merry way to the airport to get in their jet and leave – even though their next stop was as eye-roll inducing as their current one was. Damn it all to hell that it was only the first full week of their six-week travel that would come to an end today! For Tony and Pepper, it felt as if an entire month had gone by. Perhaps longer than that.

Nevertheless, and regardless of how irresponsible their actions of last night had been, Tony felt that he could easily deal with all the drama of this trip if he was given the chance to interact with Pepper every day in the same manner as they had cooperated the day before. It had not been strictly business, but it had also not been strictly platonic. It had not even been purely romantic either. It had been a welcomed combination of all of the above, with a sprinkle of the easygoing friendship they had once had. A friendship he hoped he could still salvage, were this fake marriage thing not one that was meant to last.

"UGH!"

He raised a single eyebrow when her loud and exasperated groan reached his ears. The water stream was then shut off, the shower door slid open, and he tensed for a moment. He was not done with his grooming yet – he was not even dressed – but he also felt as if he should have immediately left the bathroom as soon as she had shut off the water, for the sake of her privacy. Especially since, as he was witnessing from the reflection in the mirror, she had walked out of the shower wearing exactly what he was currently wearing: a simple towel around herself.

"You alright?" he asked instead of moving, hoping to gage her expectation and acceptance of his presence in the bathroom by the tone of her response.

"Tired," she sighed. "So. Very. Tired."

"Shower didn't do the trick?" Tony felt himself relax a little when she did not instantly demand that he leave the premises or fly his ass to China, whichever option took him the furthest away.

"Not even close," she replied with a yawn that she did not even bother to cover with the palm of her hand.

"Only eight more hours, Pep," he continued trimming his beard. "We can spend the entire night sleeping in the jet."

"How did I do this before?" she rubbed her face with her hands. "I mean, your schedule before this, when was I was your assistant… it was insane! I sometimes went days without sleeping, dragging your drunk ass everywhere, and I was fine. God! I'm getting old."

A small chuckle was his only response. She was a few years younger than he was; that much was known and true. If she felt that _she_ was getting old in spite of her excellent health status, then that made _him_ a walking corpse.

The redhead was now staring at her face in the mirror, as if she had never seen herself before. She stretched her cheeks and neckline with her fingers, shifting her head from side to side as she did so, and then proceeded to begin brushing her teeth. The couple continued their morning routine in a comfortable silence, not unlike many others they had shared before, until Tony finished his tasks first.

"Wanna eat breakfast here or stop somewhere along the way?"

"Uhm…" she pursed her lips and stared at the clock above the mirror. Her eyes then looked up and shifted left and right, all the gestures clearly showing how serious she was considering her response. About half a minute later, she simply shrugged and began walking out the bathroom with him while uttering her reply.

"Either one is fine with me. Whatever you want."

"Stop somewhere along the way it is, then. I feel that if we stay here for breakfast, we ain't never gonna want to leave to go talk to that asshole again."

"Maybe Raul won't be as obnoxious today," Pepper said as she neared the closet and began choosing her outfit for the day.

"And maybe Jack Dobson isn't cheating on his wife," Tony added, his back to the ginger, while they both began dressing up for the day.

"Yeah," Pepper sighed. "And maybe Christine Everhart is an upstanding citizen and honest reporter."

Tony threw his head back with a laugh, his left leg halfway inside his pants. "And maybe the board members will cut us some slack and let us go back home sooner than five more weeks."

"And maybe the investors will also just agree to signing off on the Foundation's projects without any questions or concerns."

"And maybe no one else will ever again ask us: _so how is married life treating ya_?" Tony stated, his voice picking up a mocking tone when quoting the question they had been asked ad nauseam the day before.

Pepper, who had been getting ready to add another ridiculous wish to their laundry list of petty requests, laughed aloud instead.

"Oh, God! That question," she shook her head before walking towards the dresser to start putting on her makeup. "If we had a dollar for every time we've been asked that so far… and for how many more times we're gonna hear it…"

"Then we wouldn't need this dumb trip in the first place. That money would pay for the projects, no problem."

"Yup," Pepper nodded, not at all surprised that the same thought had crossed their minds. It was how they operated, anyway; even before they had become more than just employer and employee.

"Could be worse, you know?" he shrugged. "Let's just hope that this is the _only_ question we get asked about our marriage for now, 'cuz you know what comes next. _Did you get married because you're expecting? Are you planning on having kids? When are you having kids? Why don't you have kids already? When are you gonna give little Robert Stark a little brother or sister? When will you have the third one? Surely Robert and Gwyneth aren't enough!_ "

By the time he realized what it was that he had just said, his eyes went as wide as hers already were, both looking at each other over their shoulders.

"Uhm," he gulped and then flinched before looking away from her. "I… huh… cough… shit… sorry? Very sorry. Crap."

Tony hastily finished dressing up and turned around in place. He fully expected Pepper to also be ready to rock and roll, but instead she was still standing there, a few feet away from him, holding her blouse against her otherwise bare chest, staring him directly in the eye. Or, as much as he allowed her to do so, seeing as he was trying to look at everything but her.

He watched from the corner of his eye how she fought for words – for the energy and will to ask whatever it was that was crossing her mind. He was not sure what she was trying to convey or say – a rare occurrence for either of them. All he could tell by her face was that she looked distraught; intensely processing his words and trying to figure out how to respond.

Finally, after another full, unnervingly silent minute, Pepper spoke.

"Robert… and Gwyneth?"

It took Tony a second to understand why she suddenly looked hurt, confused, and surprised; all at once. It was not so much the fact that he had spoken about imaginary children – it was mostly the fact that he had used actual names and all. For a brief instant, the billionaire felt confused himself as to why she looked as if this was the first time she had ever heard him refer to his potential kids by name. It took another second or so, for him to remember that his children-naming confessions to her had taken place only in his mind. He felt like a bastard for bringing up the names he had dared to reveal to her only in his dreams. Even if last said dream had turned into a nightmare, her reaction then to her finding out about his already-chosen offspring's names had been a lot better than her current one. If he had his way, right about now, he would have asked for part of his nightmare to become true in the next second – if only so that _he_ could be sucked out of a jet to avoid the can of worms he had just opened for himself.

" _Oh, Jesus! Please don't let me let you name our kids."_

 _"Why not? Robert and Gwyneth sound like perfectly decent names to me."_

 _"Robert and Gwyneth? You already chose names for our kids?"_

" _Of course I did!"_

Continued images of his dream almost clouded his vision, particularly the ones that showed him how Pepper had died.

"Tony, I–"

"No. Stop. Please. I'm sorry. I just…" he shook his head to clear the mental fog and made a dismissive gesture with his hand, "Forget I ever said anything, please?"

Pepper lips parted to tell him that he had nothing to apologize for. That it was probably she who owed him an apology and an explanation, all the while being on the floor on her knees. That she regretted that she had ripped apart that beautiful dream of his – of achieving fatherhood with her – from his hands, without even telling him about it; and that she had no way of bringing it back.

She wanted to tell him that, when it came to family and legacy, he was so much better and ahead of the game than she was.

In the end, however, seeing no point in discussing the past and matters that could not be undone, she simply kept her mouth shut and gave him a comforting nod.

"Hey," the genius began, a sad smirk on his face, attempting to clear the room of the sad vibes. "It could've been worse, Pep. I could've named them _Badassium 1_ and _Badassium 2_."

Despite the gloominess of the situation, the redhead could not hold back a laugh.

xxxXXXxxx

Sweat made the blankets stick to her skin, and her throat felt dry and raw. She would have thrown the damn things off her and would have rushed to the minibar to drink all the water in the fridge, but she did not want to wake him up. She knew that they were both exhausted, to the point that her yelp and loud gasp of just now had not disturbed his deep sleep, and it was not his fault that her guilt was punishing her by generating nightmares that showed her one of the many ways he could have died, many times over. It was definitely not his fault that she was paying for the major mistake she had made, months back.

For someone who was not half as smart as Tony could be on a bad day, her brain was truly outdoing itself when it came to finding and showing her a million graphic ways that he could have died. If it was not him dying in the wormhole in New York during the alien invasion, it was him dying of palladium poisoning, alone in his long-gone garage. Sometimes, it was an unfortunate car accident during the Grand Prix at Monaco that took him away from her. Others, it was _after_ the Grand Prix; his life ending at the hands of Ivan Vanko because she had not been quick enough to get him the suit in time.

Sometimes, her mind would replay the frightening moments in Sokovia, when a _city_ was falling on him. And in her dreams, particularly the Sokovia one, she never lost her baby. In her dreams, Tony always died, but she and their baby always lived.

Knowing that sleep would elude her for a while longer, Pepper sat up in bed and tried to relax.

She was not a religious person, nor was she a strong believer of karma or reincarnation, but she could not help the doubt that would occasionally creep up in her, especially after suffering through yet another bad dream. As such, she sometimes wondered if the reason why she had lost her baby had not been so much due to the shock caused by her watching Iron Man in action and believing a falling piece of rock had crushed him, but because there were checks and balances on this planet and the equivalent of a life was another life.

Was her child the price to pay so that Tony remained alive? Had she not decided to voluntarily sterilize herself after her miscarriage, would she have suffered another loss if Tony's life got in danger again? Was losing a piece of them both the expected tradeoff for the inventor's life?

As a member of the Avengers, even if he was trying hard as fuck to avoid suiting up and being on the frontlines, there was always a huge chance of dying in the field. Even the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that were not out on patrol or doing reconnaissance were not exempt from hazard pay, and rightfully so. The superhero business was a dangerous one, no matter how it was sliced. One could be the janitor of the Helicarrier and still lose their lives on the job while taking out the trash.

The world had changed; Tony had said so many times, but she had not anticipated how much the changes were going to affect them and what they had.

Suddenly, an illogical and silly thought made her shudder in fear.

If Tony were to be in danger once more, whatever the cause, what would she be able to give up for him? What could she offer instead of yet another life? Could she offer her own? Could she trade places with him and pass on?

The ginger inwardly chuckled in disgust at her own thoughts. Overthinking and worrying about a hypothetical scenario that had no basis at all in reality was not the best way to spend her night. The impossible situation her tired mind was concocting was as unlikely as humans settling on the sun. Hell! She had a better chance to live through another alien invasion than for some unknown higher power to have time to play a life trading game with her and the man she loved.

She rubbed her face with her hands, feeling tiredness leaving her body but not her brain. She then stole a glance to her left to make sure that Tony was still sound asleep; his light snores confirming this fact. She rested the back of her head against the headboard and briefly closed her eyes before yet another thought entered her mind.

Her gaze slowly drifted to her right, toward the small table drilled to the floor of the jet, particularly to their wedding rings. It was still odd to see them there, especially since she knew the sentimental value the jewelry had for the genius himself. These had been Maria and Howard Stark's rings. And he had wanted her and he to have and wear them for the rest of their lives.

 _Proof that Pepper Potts has my heart._

The phrase he had chosen to engrave inside her wedding ring made her die a little inside. It both thrilled and angered her that he had thought so highly of her, all this time; that he had remembered the phrase she had used during that one occasion when she had opened up to him more than she should have while still being employee and employer. Times had changed, however, and so had they. Those times of relative innocence were long gone.

Without thinking, her hand landed on the nightstand, right above the rings, and she absentmindedly played with them with her fingers. Her eyes lost their focus for a moment, her mind simultaneously thinking of everything and nothing, until curiosity overrode all reason and thoughts. Before she could command herself to stop, she picked up his ring and her cell phone, held them both close to her face, and then used the light on her phone to read the inscription inside.

It took her a good minute to make sense of the tiny writing in the poor light. Yet, once the phrase became clear to her, she rolled her eyes and smiled.

Of course he would use something like this! It had _Tony Stark_ written all over it, so to speak. Of course he would choose something that sounded just like him: sweet and conceited, all at once.

She shook her head and returned the phone and the ring to the nightstand, suddenly feeling ready to get back to sleep; her eyes closing immediately and her body relaxing when she felt him scoot over closer to her side of the bed to wrap an arm around her waist and press her back against his chest.

She did not even think of pulling away from him. After all, the phrase in his wedding ring justified what he had just done in his sleep.

 _I'm all she has too, you know?_

Indeed, he was.

xxxXXXxxx

This was their third arrival. The third start of their forced-upon façade. Their third beginning on this too-long-for-their-taste business trip. They had, at some points thus far, barely kept up with appearances for over a week. Almost fucked it all up at sometimes, too. It was a miracle that they were still full-speed ahead with this charade, especially with the increase in media coverage and paparazzi the leaking of their fake wedding had caused. It was certainly a recipe for disaster; an accident waiting for a place to happen – yet, despite the odds, they continued to endure.

In fact, their actions and words of this very moment – a moment in which they exited their company jet to jump into their borrowed car and head for their new temporary shelter – were coming to them a lot more naturally than they had, nine days ago. Nine days ago, they had hardly been able to exchange morning greetings without flinching, let alone carry on a handshake or share a piece of bread. Nine days ago, the twosome was having issues closing their eyes while sleeping in the same room, their positions several feet away. Little over a week ago, the thought of wearing Maria Stark's wedding band and engagement ring, and responding to the calls of Mrs. Stark would have made Pepper hurl. Granted, the last one still made Pepper feel queasy, but for completely different reasons altogether.

Truth was that, now, in this very moment, after making a true commitment to what needed to be done, in addition to when, where and how, they were both finally on the same page. At long last.

Tony carrying their luggage into the trunk of the rented sports car _seemed_ natural. The genius opening the door for her and then rushing to the driver's seat to start the vehicle _felt_ natural. Pepper preparing to help him navigate the foreign country by putting in the address of their hotel on her Stark-issued phone _looked_ natural. Even his right hand briefly leaving the gear stick to brush her knee to catch her attention every now and then to point at something interesting on the road appeared to be second-nature to both of them. It was as if something had finally clicked into place – something had used the correct combination in their brains to help them embrace what they were and who they had to be. He was not sure what it was. She did not want to call on bad luck by acknowledging it. It was what it was. All that was left to do was carrying it out.

"Make a left here," Pepper's eyes never left the screen of her phone, "The entrance to the hotel should be on our right, about halfway down the street."

"Are they waiting for us by the entrance?"

"Yup. They're gonna validate us outside the lobby."

"Good. This driving on the right side of the car while staying in the left lane is already fucking me up."

"Thanks for taking one for the team, Mr. Stark," she jested at his dramatic admission and he scoffed.

"Keep it up, Potts, and I'm gonna make _you_ drive us to Jack's home. With your eyes closed. And no GPS."

"Thank you for your interest," Pepper deadpanned, her eyes never leaving her side window, "However, we regret to inform you that the position of limousine driver has been filled."

"Smart-ass," Tony grumbled.

"Takes one to know one."

"Touché!"

He patted her knee once more to show her he was just joking with her, just in case she did not know, before he began turning towards the entrance of the hotel, sweat quickly soaking his hands in uneasiness at the maneuver. By some miracle, he did not hit any vehicle, pedestrian, building, or space-orbiting satellite during the transition, leaving them by the lobby in a heartbeat and unscathed.

"Oh, thank God!" Tony practically hugged the valet parking attendant when he exited the car. "You're a good man. Take this death trap out of my hands, please."

Pepper chuckled and shook her head, more than just a little amused by the blunt display of Tony's anxiety with driving in London. She nodded her thanks to the gentleman that had opened the passenger door for her, and she then frowned when she saw that Tony had his hands on his knees, his head between his legs, and appeared as if he was about to throw up.

"Gonna kiss the ground, too?" she walked towards his form by the front of the car and then began rubbing circles on his back, "Like the Pope does when his plane lands?" she joked.

"Nope," he took in a deep breath and then stood up straight, "But I'm gonna kiss _you_ , 'cause it helps," he replied, placed a quick kiss on her lips that she did not mind, and he then began rubbing his sweaty palms against his pants. "Jesus! You'd think I was being summoned again."

"Or that you aren't Iron Man and fly thousands of feet up in the air, in nothing but a titanium-gold alloy, one-man _suit_ ," the redhead extended her right hand towards him to lead him to the reception and he immediately allowed himself to be guided away.

"Oh, you sound so hot right now, Pep," he swapped hands with her and lifted their joined arms to throw them over her head and onto her shoulders so that he could keep their hold while also embracing her from the side with his left arm. "Say that again."

"Which part?" she smirked, not sure if she was flirting with him because they were in public and it was part of the act, or if it was because the banter felt familiar and she had missed it more than she cared to admit right now.

"You know which part."

"Titanium-gold… alloy?"

"Yeah, baby. That part. Talk dirty to me."

A loud guffaw and a shake of the head coming from her was followed by a wide smile and a wink coming from him.

"Your bags will be sent to you room, Mr. and Mrs. Stark," one of the bellhops told the ginger on his way out, practically tripping over his own two feet with how fast he was hauling towards the car. Clearly, their arrival was already the talk and focus of the place by now; all eyes on them and all hands-on-deck.

"Thank you," Pepper said with a nod at the retreating young man.

Before Tony could continue his playful conversation with his _wife_ , a tall man with a nametag of _Manager_ on his blazer intercepted the couple and greeted them halfway to the front desk.

"Mr. Stark! Mrs. Stark! Such a pleasure! Welcome, welcome!"

"Hi," Tony shook the eager man's hand with his free one. "What's your name?"

"Brian."

"Nice to meet you, Brian. Think can you speed up our check-in? My wife and I spent the whole night traveling and we have a 4 o'clock. Wanna freshen up before then. Think you can make magic happen?"

"Oh, yes, of course, sir! No problem at all. In fact, I have your keycards right here."

True to his word, the manager took out from the front pocket of his blazer two electronic cards, each inside an individual sleeve, and handed them both to the billionaire.

"That's what I'm talking about," Tony smiled.

"We've been preparing for your arrival, sir, ma'am. If there's anything that you need… anything at all, please call me directly."

Following his offer, Brian handed Pepper a business card with his contact information and then gave them both a slight bow. "Please, make yourselves comfortable. Your luggage will be taken to your room, shortly."

"Thanks," Tony said with a thumbs-up before he led Pepper to the elevator. Once inside and after pressing the button that would take them to the penthouse, the genius exhaled loudly, scratched the back of his neck, and then stared Pepper in the eye. "I miss Jarvis."

Pepper looked momentarily confused by his seemingly random confession until it dawned on her what had triggered the thought.

"The AI or… him…?"

"Him," Tony said in a sad tone.

"Do you think he still lives here?"

Tony shrugged. "Maybe. If he hasn't yet… you know…"

"I think we would've been told if he had."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Well, we could go see him."

"Nah."

"Why not? He'd be happy to see you, Tony."

"Would he?" Tony sighed. "I haven't spoken to him since…"

Tony was not sure if he had stopped himself from speaking or if the ding of the elevator announcing its passing trajectory to yet another level had interrupted his response. Either way, he was happy for the momentary distraction while he ordered his thoughts. The topic was a sore spot for him, as many of the ones related to people that had left his life on their terms rather than his always seemed to be. Jarvis had left him. His parents had left him. Obadiah's parental figure had, in some sense, left him. Pepper had left him. The other half of the Avengers had left him. He was an abandonment case with feet.

Even though he had named his AI in honor of the man he had mockingly and disrespectfully labeled as his nanny for a long time, he knew that his father and Edwin Jarvis had not gone their separate ways on the best of terms. In fact, as far as Tony was concerned, it was possible that Jarvis and his father never got a chance to let bygones be bygones before the passing of Howard Stark. Tony was unsure as to what had caused the rift between them, but he had a feeling that an impromptu and unannounced visit by the son of the man that had sent him packing back to London from the States would not sit well with the former butler of the Starks.

"He was at their funeral. I saw him. And he was also at Agent Carter's. Intelligence told me."

"Those don't sound like actions of a man that wants to stay uncommunicated."

"He was very loyal to his job at the mansion. And he and Peggy Carter were very close."

"And he cared for you very much," Pepper reminded him. She had never met the man in person, but there had been enough photographic and anecdotal evidence around Tony's former Malibu home and at Stark Industries' headquarters for her to know her words were true, whether Tony chose to accept them or not. She gave the inventor a minute or so to continue the conversation, but when he remained silent and pensive, she knew it was time to pull back.

The elevator doors chose that moment to open to welcome them to the private hall that would lead them to the _royal_ penthouse. Their keycards served as clearance to access the VIP section of the hotel, and also as a gateway to the penthouse itself. They made quick work of the multiple levels of security features that kept the penthouse restricted to only those who paid 10 million dollars a night for it, and both of them breathed a sigh of relief once the front door closed and locked behind them.

Just as expected, the room was luxurious and large, with enough space for each of them to pick a room and a living space, effectively ensuring they did not have to cross paths at all while being in the same place. Nonetheless, they both automatically walked towards the master bedroom, closed the double-doors, and then simultaneously fell on the bed.

"We haven't even started this visit and I'm already exhausted," the redhead admitted, trying and failing at pushing her heels off her feet by shaking her legs. Tony noticed what she was attempting to do and snorted, only to then roll down the bed to the floor and taking the shoes off her himself.

"At least we know Jack's gonna be on his best behavior. Wife's there, and he knows that we know that he's a lying, cheating sack of shit."

"Or, he'll want to get even for us getting away with murder, or whatever he said."

"I doubt it," Tony said as he absentmindedly began massing the redhead's feet by the foot of the bed, his body sitting on the carpeted floor. It was a habit that he had picked when they had been living together, executed every time she came home from running his company while he had been there all day, tinkering and avoiding being the boss of his family's company. He was not sure how the woman was able to walk and run around in those heels all day – or how she had saved his ass from being fried by Iron Monger, way back when, while wearing them – but it was what she liked to wear and who she was. He would not change any of that about her.

Although, he would change plenty about himself, no doubt.

"I wonder how Piero's doing," the ginger said as she closed her eyes to take full advantage of the attention Tony was willing to provide.

"No news is good news, in his case."

"I'll go meet with him once we're done with this trip. I need to make sure we honor what he asked of us."

"Maybe we'll stop there before we go back to New York. Get it done in one trip."

"We can't," Pepper shook her head. "Accounting will be on my ass if I don't follow protocol. It's gonna be a personal trip. He doesn't want SI to be part of the deal."

"Mmhhh, yeah. You're right," Tony frowned, remembering how adamant the man had been about being Tony and Pepper managing his wealth, not The Foundation or Stark Industries, or anything that was not just the two of them.

"Besides," Pepper continued, "The Board's going to want a briefing as soon as we land. Wouldn't surprise me if they are waiting for us at the airport."

"Let's land at 2 A.M."

"Or not tell them when we land."

"Or ask them to behave like normal fucking people and be asleep at night."

Pepper laughed aloud. "We ask and expect too much of people, don't we, Tony?"

"I'd say not enough. We're bending over backwards as it is, traveling and playing nice with these pricks."

"Not all of them are bad."

"Most of them are."

"OK. True, but not all of them are pricks."

"I know. There's some mean ladies in the mix, too."

"Yeah," Pepper held back a groan, thinking of a particular mean lady she was not looking forward to seeing again.

"Don't worry about her," Tony said, not at all surprising for Pepper that he had read her mind. "I'm an honest man now. Committed man. Your man."

"That didn't mean much before. Don't think it will mean anything now. At least not for her."

"Well, if all else fails, I can lie to her and tell her I can't get it up. Occupational hazard. Lost in battle. Great loss."

Pepper covered her face with her hands to laugh, unsure as to how Tony could make the topic of castration via being maimed in battle sound funny at all.

"All jokes aside," he continued his response and swapped his massaging task from one foot to the next, "It'll be alright, Pep. You know you're the only one I love. She's just gonna have to accept that. And keep it in her pants… skirts… whatever…"

"That's true," the redhead replied, her voice almost a whisper, her eyes landing on his high-concentration looking face, and she smiled. "I trust you, Tony. It'll be all right."

He did not verbally reply, only nodded, and the ginger ran her thumb over her wedding band.

* * *

 **Thank you for the favorite/follow:** HarmoSeriesAddict, Cacao85, Billy16.01.17, vwv, Shael Orthovin, kateswalshs, kateswalshs, and Pepperony106.

 **Stark13: I'm really addicted to your story ! Please update soon !** – Thank you! Sorry about the delayed updates :(

 **KymEsk: Me gusto mucho el capítulo. Tony no le ha contado lo de sus padre y se entiende es lo más difícil. Hay cada vez mas tensión pero se vislumbra. Ambos tiene heridas que necesitan cerrar y solo se tiene al otro. Espero con ansias el próximo capítulo Saludos. Al parecer Pepper esta de regreso! noticias/84794/Pepper-Potts-regresa-al-MCU-en-Spider-Man-Homecoming/** \- No quiero arruinarlo mucho, pero es parte de los planes esa conversación con que para el final de esta historia, los dos hayan podido hacer lo que acabas de decir: cerrar las heridas y sanar. No me quiero emocionar con lo de Pepper en Homecoming, pero es dificil. Ya nos merecemos un break de las calamidades de los escritores de las peliculas, ¿verdad? :D

 **Guest: Owwww I really love your story please update soon. –** Thank you very much ^_^ I think you'll really love this chapter.

 **A/N:** Not much to say here other than thanking you, from the bottom of my heart, for your continued patience and support. My health continues to deteriorate, unfortunately. Not sure how or where I'll be in a few months. Meanwhile, I bring you a new chappie. Hope you all enjoy :)


	6. Chapter 5: London

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Thank you for the favorite/follow:** _gdag1321, Reikajen and KHB123._

 **Kate: Can't wait for the next chapter ! So looking forward to read what you have in store and by looking at all of the chapter's title it's gonna be a real all around the globe tour for our favourite Marvel couple :)** – Thank you for reading and reviewing! Gotta admit that, even though the task is daunting, having a clear travel plan helps. I've visited ZERO of the places I'll be taking our couple to, so whatever I write about them is my best guess :P Hope I don't offend anyone with my piss-poor attempt at a world tour XD

* * *

 **Chapter 5: London**

Jack Dobson really liked his money and the status and power it brought him, if his over-the-top home and apparent opulent lifestyle was any indication of the sort. He had way too many servants, way too many expensive decorative items, and way too many words to describe his grandeur. Whatever it was that the man was overcompensating for, it was clearly teeny-tiny-eensy-weensy-diminutive, microscopic and small.

Under his breath, Tony had told Pepper that he hoped it was Jack's manhood that needed the confidence boost.

 _"Do you know how many small penis jokes I can make while we're here?" Tony asked the redhead, his mind and body at ease now that they had a driver and he did not have to maneuver the streets of London. "Did I ever tell you that I told Loki one? Or, at least I tried. I don't think he got it or cared for it."_

 _"You tried to tell the supernatural being that brought an alien army to New York City, a penis joke?"_

 _"Done worst things, Honey."_

 _"Don't I know that."_

And she did, that was the sad part. Or maybe it was the part where Tony Stark, one of the smartest men on the entire planet, had done worst things than to mock a demigod's symbol of virility in the middle of an alien invasion.

Then again, the ginger almost wished Tony would make an insensitive or uncomfortable joke right about now, if only so that she did not have to listen to Jack Dobson continue talking about how much money he had spent in the custom dining room alone.

"So, Melanie," Pepper interjected when Jack took a moment to sip his _custom and rather expensive_ wine, "How are things with you?"

"Oh, she's great," Jack interrupted and Pepper inwardly groaned and rolled her eyes. "She's almost lost all of the weight she put on while pregnant."

"But the glow remains," Tony quickly added when he noticed the evidently tired woman practically deflating before them. "You look lovely, Mel."

"Thank you, Tony," Melanie said with the smile of a person who hardly ever heard anything positive sent her way.

"Already practicing your bullshit lines for when Pepper has a bun in the oven?" Jack scoffed. "Don't believe everything you hear, Tony. Pregnant women don't glow. They glisten because of the additional sweat they produce while carrying the extra layer of fat they put on to feed and carry the baby. Pregnancy has been romanticized to make ugly women feel better about themselves. There's nothing delightful about it. It's a hassle, it's what it is."

"Pregnancy varies from woman to woman," Pepper smiled kindly towards Melanie, as if Jack had not just spoken pure venom to them. "It seems yours made you even more beautiful."

"It was a hard one," the woman admitted with a light tint to her cheeks, clearly not used to having so much positive attention on herself. "I was in labor for nearly a day until the doctor decided to just do a C-section."

"You should see the scar it left behind," Jack shook his head in obvious disappointment. "She isn't wearing any bikinis any time soon. At least until we have that scar surgically removed, of course."

"Of course," Tony said between gritted teeth, shooting daggers at an oblivious Jack who was too busy checking his phone.

"Mrs. Dobson," one of the servants approached the table, "It is time."

"Already?" Melanie almost paled at the news. "But it hasn't been two hours."

"I'm sorry, Madame. He just woke up and he's growing impatient."

"Can't we just bottle feed him what I already pumped? I'm in the middle of a–"

"Oh, for Christ's sake! Will you just go do your job, Mel?" Jack sighed. "We're having a business meeting. We can't have Jack Jr. throw a fit in the middle of it, can we?"

"No, we can't. You're right," Melanie's head hung. "I'm so sorry, Tony, Pepper. Mommy duty calls."

Tony and Pepper exchanged a quick look of both pity and understanding for their female host before Pepper stood up with Melanie.

"Mind if I join you?" Pepper asked.

"Oh, I…" Melanie stared at her husband with wary eyes, unsure as to how to respond to the redhead's offer, but Jack was still too entranced by his phone.

"Go ahead you two," Tony waved them off as he stood up and moved partway around the table. "I'm sure that baby has a lot more interesting things to say than we do."

"Stark, don't be ridiculous," Jack said as he too stood up and pocketed his mobile device, "He can't talk yet."

"Precisely," Tony mumbled under his breath before he reached a standing Pepper and Melanie and held one of Melanie's hands with both of his. "Thank you for your company. I hope I get to meet the little guy later on?"

"Of course," Melanie beamed, thrilled that someone other than herself and her mother were interested in getting to know her son. "He'll pass right out after eating, but I'm taking him with me tomorrow to the tour."

"Tomorrow it is, then," Tony let go of Melanie's hand after a tight squeeze and then eyed his wife when her hand landed on his upper arm.

"I'll come back down in a minute," Pepper told the inventor as she passed him by.

"I'll be right here," Tony replied and patted her hand once. "I hope. Still alive. Or at least not bored to death."

"You're a big boy," she winked playfully at him, Melanie leading the way with Pepper in tow. "You'll survive."

"Love you, sweetie," Tony called after her, more than just a little amused by her mirth, the phrase leaving him before he could reign it in.

"Love you, too," Pepper replied over her shoulder with a smile, much to his delight.

"Oh, you two disgust me," Jack said, standing next to Tony now, the two men watching their women go up the stairs and disappear down the hall to their left.

"You disgust me more," Tony replied, a fake smile on his face.

"Bloody hell," Jack rolled his eyes at Tony's odd sense of humor – or what he thought was a poor attempt at a joke. "Let's talk business, Stark. Come on."

"Fine. Your studio, I guess?"

"Nah, too crowded in here."

Tony was taken aback and frowned. The mansion was so large it could not be considered crowded even if every person who visited Time Square for New Year's happened to drop by at the same time.

"So, where are we going?"

"Out."

"Out?"

"Yes."

"Out?"

"You've got wax in your ears, Stark? Yes, I said: out."

"Out _where_?"

"A more private setting. This is a very sensitive meeting, is it not?"

"Well, yeah. But I told Pepper that–"

"She'll be too busy with the baby. Women, you know? When they're young, it's puppies. When they're old, it's babies. I guarantee you the missus will forget you the moment she lays eyes on the kid."

"Pepper is not the–"

"Sure, sure. Hurry up, Stark!" Jack picked up his pace, clearly not interested in whatever the genius had to say about his wife.

"But, Jack," Tony's eyes shifted back and forth from staring at Jack Dobson's retreating back and up the stairs Pepper had just climbed, unsure as to what to do next. "Jack! _Jack!_ "

But Jack was already outside, in his limousine, impatiently waiting for Tony to catch up.

 _Son of a bitch!_

With a groan and after sending Pepper a quick text message, Tony was left with no option but to chase after the obnoxious man.

xxxXXXxxx

Melanie seemed hesitant to feed her child, even if the poor baby was starting to cry about being made to wait. His eyes were still closed and his mouth mimicked the suckling motion that he was anticipating would be nourishing him any time now, but Melanie had made no effort to free her breast for him. Pepper had never seen a baby breastfeed before, but she had read about it and thought she knew what to expect. It was something natural and common, and they were only among women right now after all, so it was unclear to the redhead what was causing Melanie to waver.

"Do you need help, Mrs. Dobson?" one of the servants said, clearly also dumbfounded by the lack of action on the mother's part, but Melanie shook her head almost violently.

"Please, let us be," Melanie said instead. "We have private matters to tend to."

"But, Madame–"

"I said _leave_ ," Melanie ordered in a tone that she had hoped would seem commanding but was desperate-sounding instead.

The two servants in the room looked at one another, neither making a move to depart the premises, prompting Pepper to jump to the mother's aid.

"I'll help her. We got this."

Pepper's smile and tone had not been as curt and pointed as Melanie's, but there was something in Pepper's demeanor that told the servants there was no arguing with her. And that, if they did try to push back, there will be hell to pay.

"We'll be within earshot, Mrs. Dobson."

"Please don't," Pepper said before Melanie could pale even further. "We'll be sharing sensitive information. I'd rather keep our conversation confidential. I trust the baby will keep silent about it all, right?"

The off-handed joke got a chuckle out of the maids and Melanie, and it also gave the two younger women a way to leave the room in a dignified manner after practically being kicked out and threatened by a guest.

"Thank you," Pepper added as an afterthought when the doors to the nursery room were about to close.

Both women, now by themselves, waited wordlessly for the other to speak, but it was the sudden tears running down Melanie's cheeks that broke the silence instead.

"Are you OK?" Pepper was on her feet instantly, her eyes searching left and right for a tissue box. Once she found one, she lunged for it and then offered the sobbing woman a couple of them. "Melanie?"

"Sorry," Melanie said between sobs and accepted the tissues. "I just… I can't… I can't do this… please… I just can't!"

"Do what?" Pepper pulled her chair closer to Melanie and sat down. "What can I do? How can I help?"

Knowing that her words would fail her, Melanie uncovered the side of her chest opposite to the baby's head and the sight of what was underneath made Peppers gasp.

"Oh, Melanie…"

The new mother's nipple area was red, inflamed, cracked and already bleeding before it was even put to use. It was clearly as painful as it looked, perhaps even more so if the other breast was in the same condition. Her breast was not even as engorged as Pepper had expected it to be, and it was then that it dawned on the redhead what Melanie was talking about.

"Where's the milk you pumped earlier?"

"In there," Melanie pointed towards a small fridge by the corner of the room and Pepper rushed towards it.

"Bottles?" Pepper asked next, plastic bottle of cold milk in hand, and then followed Melanie's finger aimed at a box atop one of the bookshelves in the room. Within seconds, Pepper had prepared a bottle for the child and, before she realized what she was doing, Jack Jr. was in her arms, happily eating, cooing and closing his eyes.

The sporadic suckling sounds were the only noise in the room for several minutes, broken in between only by Melanie's quieting sobs until the woman finally found her voice once more.

"You must think I'm the worst mother in the world."

Pepper did not look up from staring at the baby in her arms but shook her head in response, no hint of disdain or contempt in her voice.

"Not even close. I actually think you're a saint, trying to breastfeed when your supply is so low."

"It's practically gone," Melanie grimaced. "It was low two weeks ago. It'll be non-existent in a few days."

"Have you thought about which type of formula you're going to want to use?"

"No, I…" Melanie bit her bottom lip and looked away. "Formula is not an option."

"Why not?" Pepper frowned and looked at the woman.

"It's unnatural. Jack won't stand for it."

"What?"

"He," Melanie cleared her throat, preparing herself for what she knew would come next. "He already hates that the baby is not his. I can't tell him we have to do something artificial again."

"I… I'm sorry?"

Melanie sighed in defeat, knowing that she had by now said more than she should have. Yet, at this point, it did not matter anymore. She had bared herself more to this woman in less than five minutes after being around her than she had done to anyone else since the baby had arrived. The cat was out of the bag, anyway. If anyone would understand her woes, it would be another woman who also had to maneuver the bullshit of the business world. The burden of being married to a wealthy, powerful man.

"Jack is infertile. That… Jack Jr., he's my baby… but not his. At least not by blood."

"You got a donor," Pepper stated so matter-of-factly that Melanie thought the ginger had not truly heard her correctly the first time.

"We did. Anonymous. The best money could buy."

"Must have been," Pepper snickered at the cute faces the child was making. "This baby is ridiculously gorgeous. He must've gotten all of your looks, though."

"Pepper…"

Melanie sucked in air, truly moved by the woman's kind words and understanding attitude. It was more than anyone else that knew about her donor story had done for her. Most had pitied her, even if she had not been the reason for Jack Dobson's inability to father a child. Others had accused her of not being attractive enough to make it so that her husband was able to impregnate her the natural way. In this day and age, it had been a shock to Melanie Dobson finding out how biased, uneducated, willfully ignorant, and downright unsupportive other women could be of new wives and new mothers in her position. The men, she could somehow understand their insensitive comments and erroneous thoughts – they had clue zero about pregnancy and child-bearing, and she would admit that she had probably thought and said things about the burdens their equipment gave them that was equally as incorrect and insensitive due to that same kind of natural ignorance, as much as the next woman had. That was one thing. But hearing other women put her down, mock her, blame her for her shortcomings… that had been a bucket of ice poured over her too many times to count.

"But that still doesn't explain formula not being an option. Surely if Jack saw that your–"

"He'll blame me," Melanie replied. "He'll tell me that I'm doing it on purpose. He won't believe how hard I've tried. I've kept it from him and from the servants for weeks. But they'll find out soon. They buy the groceries. They'll tell him. They _have_ to tell him."

Pepper bit back a growl, feeling angry for Melanie. She had thought that Raul Contreras was an idiot. But Jack Dobson was quickly taking up that spot.

"What if your doctor spoke to him? Would that help?"

"Maybe," Melanie shrugged. "It took a few visits and ten different doctors, but he finally accepted that he was the issue and not me. That he was the reason why we couldn't conceive."

"I know a great doctor. Several of them, in fact. I can make some calls. They'll fly here, too, if that's easier for you."

"I… I couldn't, Pepper… There's no way I–"

"Your baby deserves the best," Pepper said as she stood up, slumbering baby in her arms, and she reached the crib to lay him down. "Jack may be your husband, but this baby is your son. He needs you. You know what's best for him. For you. And you do whatever you need to do for both your sakes."

"But, I…" Melanie sighed.

"I mean it," Pepper's voice turned stern, her body facing the crumbling woman before her, hoping against hope that she could reason with her. "If it were me, I'd do anything in my power to give this baby what he needs, no matter who had a problem with the way I did things. I know you're not me, and I'm not you, and our situations are different but… but I can help. I want to help. And if Tony finds out, he'll want to help too."

"But Jack–"

"Jack doesn't know shit," Pepper said, slightly surprised by her use of vulgar language during what was supposed to be a business encounter. "Or jack. Jack doesn't know jack. How about that? That better?"

In spite of herself and the situation, Melanie laughed aloud, but she then quickly covered her mouth with her left hand when the baby shifted in his sleep. Both women held their breaths while the baby fussed a little, but they then sighed in relief when the little bundle started snoring again.

"His biological father is a singer," Melanie supplied. "That baby has quite the set of lungs in him."

"Oh, dear Lord," Pepper giggled and placed her hand over her chest. "Good thing he didn't wake up just now."

Both women laughed at something that they both knew was not entirely funny and more out of nervousness at the _peril_ they had surely avoided before they both relaxed again.

"So, about helping me… Do you mean it, Pepper? Would you really help me?"

"Of course. I meant what I said."

"But, we don't even really know each other. Why would you help me?"

Pepper shrugged. "Why would I not?"

Melanie nodded, accepting Pepper's response, ran her palms down her cheeks to wipe away her tears, and then offered the woman a bright smile.

"I see why a man like Tony Stark fell for you. If he was ever to settle down, it would have to be with someone like you."

"Maybe, but I think Tony deserves some credit, too. He's not as aloof or superficial as his image made him out to be. He's kind. And caring. He's a wonderful man, under all the craziness."

"I can tell. You're both so lucky to have found real love."

Pepper simply nodded, knowing there was nothing she had to say to that. She already knew how lucky she was to have Tony in her life, in whatever capacity he had been able to offer. She was extra lucky that said role was of a friend and a lover. She could not imagine living her life without some of him in it. Even their initial business partnership, when she had first become his assistant, had grounded her more times than she could count.

"Are you going to be OK?" Pepper asked, her hand resting on Melanie's in a comforting manner, returning the woman's nodding response. "I need to get back to the meeting. I'll send you the contact information for the doctors tonight. Or I can give them a call. Make the arrangements for you."

"The names and numbers will be enough. I… you're right. I need to do this. If it were just me, I'd probably continue to take it, and I know that I _could_ take it. But it's not just for me. I need to stand up for my son."

"You will. And if you need my help, please call me. Or call Tony, if you can't find me. He'll get me."

As Pepper dug into her bag to take out her and Tony's business cards, she noticed that she had three unread text messages from the billionaire. She frowned at that, wondering what he could not walk up the stairs to tell her. She had silenced her phone on her way to the nursery to prevent unwanted noise while near the baby, thinking she would not need to worry about incoming communication. Curiosity getting the best of her, she took out both the cards and the phone, and then handed the cards to Melanie's eager hands.

"What's the matter?"

"Not sure," Pepper said as she unlocked her phone and began reading the messages. Her first reaction was to groan, then to growl, and then to smile. The three gestures happened in rapid succession, leaving the again anxious Melanie fearing what Pepper had to relay to her.

"Pepper?"

"You said that Jack Jr. can _sing_ , huh?"

"Yes. Why?"

"And you want my help, right?" Pepper's smirk was borderline Machiavellian at this point. Melanie was not sure what that meant for her and her son, but she knew that whatever Pepper had in mind would not place either of them in any kind of danger.

"I do."

"Then I think we can start right now."

"What do you mean? Start what?"

Pepper pressed a few keys on her phone, smiled proudly, and then eyed Melanie with excitement.

"You'll see."

xxxXXXxxx

Tony Stark was seriously considering writing a book about this trip of theirs. To be released only after his death, if only to show to the world the things he had done to support the bright minds of tomorrow. He had already known the investors were quite the characters – most of them, anyway. But knowing something and living it were too widely different things in-and-of themselves.

Years ago, he would have felt right at home where he was at the moment, but that particular itch had been scratched raw eons ago. He was no longer that man who craved the type of attention Jack Dobson was currently drowning himself in. He had no need for these hollow and shallow encounters anymore. He was an honest man – mostly. And he was better than this – almost entirely. Or at least honest and good enough to know that this was no longer where he belonged. No longer where he _wanted_ to be.

The genius flinched when he felt a smooth hand run across his upper back. He grabbed the dainty hand by the wrist and politely pulled it away from the path it was taking towards his torso, almost grimacing at the disgruntled look the blonde that was trying to get his attention bore on her face.

"I'm good. Thanks, ma'am."

The words sounded stupid even to him, but that was all he had. This was the third stripper that had tried to offer her services to him. And she was also the third one he had turned down since their arrival.

"Stop being a wanker, Stark!" Jack bellowed over the blaring music of the gentleman's club. "Just let the lady do her job!"

"I'm trying to do mine," Tony spat back. "I thought you said you wanted a more private setting. I can't hear myself think!"

"This is a private booth."

"Of a strip club."

"Still private."

"Ugh," Tony rubbed his face with his hands.

"Besides, pleasure before business, Tony. Plus, now that you're married, I've got to show you the ropes of the conjugal world."

"The ropes… of the _conjugal world_?"

"Yes. Women's expectations and attitudes change once you tie the knot. It gets boring. Monotone. Us men have to go out of our way to keep the spark alive. Because they won't. They expect us to do all the work."

"I don't think having a child is boring," Tony replied. "I think Melanie just needs to sleep a little more. You can probably watch your kid for a while so that she can take a damned nap."

Jack scoffed and then ground his groin against the woman sitting on his lap. "Shows what you know. That brat isn't mine."

Tony was taken aback by the confession, but Jack continued speaking before he could demand that he clarify the statement.

"That's why I got myself a side gig, if you know what I mean. And we're gonna get you one, too. I'm sure the missus won't mind."

"We're… she won't… what, the what? Is THAT why you brought me here? To have an affair?"

"Of course not!" Jack replied and Tony breathed a sigh of relief that was entirely too early once he heard Jack's next words. "This is just testing the merchandise. Once you find one that you like in here, then you can take her home and call it whatever you want."

"Jack," Tony's voice was firm and annoyed, "I'm here to talk business. So, let's get back to your place, get Pepper, and do just that."

"We don't have to talk business. Just pick a woman 'round here, go have fun, and your company can have all the money of mine you want. Simple as that."

Tony covered his face with his hands and groaned. This was worse than lying about being married to Pepper to Raul Contreras. Now his investor expected him to have an affair. What was next? An investor demanding to _borrow_ Pepper for a night? For him to build them a sex doll version of Ultron? A threesome… with a dog? Tony shuddered at the thought.

"Jack," Tony began, his eyes cold and unamused, "I swear to God, if we don't–"

The rest of the genius' reply was interrupted by the feel of yet another hand stroking his back and resting on his shoulder. Tony clenched his teeth and hands, flared his nostrils, and yelled as he turned around.

"For god's sake, lady! Keep it in your pants!"

"Well, that's not what you said last night."

"Pepper?" Tony's eyes were wide.

"Hey," she smiled at him before stepping aside so that an equally stunned Jack could see Melanie and Jack Jr. standing behind the redhead.

"Melanie!" Jack pushed the stripper off his lap. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"This is quite the unusual place to hold a business meeting, don't you think, Pepper?" Melanie replied, her eyes staring at the décor with feigned interest, clearly ignoring her husband's outburst.

Pepper shrugged. "I don't know. I once had a business meeting in the middle of a wet t-shirt contest."

"Again, _so_ sorry about that," Tony flinched, yet he could tell by Pepper's smile that she was just playing a part to annoy their host.

"How did you find us?" Jack asked as he straightened his clothes and stood up.

"GPS tracker," Tony said. "Pepper and I share coordinates of our locations via our phones."

"You _allow_ her to keep tabs on you, Stark?"

"Well, ever since _I_ got lost in the Middle East and _she_ got kidnapped by a terrorist, we've been pretty strict about knowing where the other is at all times. Surely, you understand that, Jack, right?"

"But… this is a business trip!"

"That's what I was doing in Afghanistan," Tony remarked.

"And now we're at a strip club," Pepper added nonchalantly as she took a seat next to Tony, and Melanie did the same.

"This is very quaint," Melanie said with a vague gesture of her hand. "Dark enough for Jack Jr.'s sleep to remain undisturbed, too. Kinda loud, but the music's rhythm is soothing enough to keep him snoozing. Great pick, Jack!"

"I… but you… and… and we…" Jack shook his head from side to side, a myriad of words and thoughts fighting for dominance in his mind.

"So, about that offer, Jack," Tony began, seeing an opening he could not let go by unused, "I think I'll take it."

"What?" Jack was still too dumfounded by the current situation to make sense of whatever Tony was going about.

"The merchandise right here," Tony pointed at Pepper with his thumb. "I'll just go ahead and have a good time with this lovely lady and you can sign the renewal and funding of the Foundation. How about that?"

"Merchandise?" Pepper raised a single eyebrow.

"Yes, Honey. Before you two got here, Jack had just told me to, and I quote: _Just pick a woman 'round here, go have fun, and your company can have all the money of mine you want._ "

"But that's your wife already," Jack argued. "That doesn't count."

"That's not how you stated it," Tony shrugged. "You said to pick merchandise from this location. Technically, Pepper is currently in this location. Employment or professional tie-ins to the location in question were not specified."

"Look, Tony, I don't know what game you're trying to play, but 1) you know that's not what I meant, and 2) that was just a statement, not a legal contract."

"Then you should've stated that, sweetie," Melanie's soft voice was clear over the blaring music. "Vagueness or unclear items on contracts favor the party that didn't draft the agreement. Besides, you do recall that, in England, verbal agreements are legally binding. Do you not?"

"Oh, that's right," Pepper feigned remembering a key piece of information. "You are a lawyer, aren't you, Melanie."

"Sure am. Still have my license."

"So," Tony directed his question towards Melanie. "Is it your legal opinion, Mrs. Dobson, that it's in yours, your husband's _and_ your company's best interest to uphold said legally binding verbal contract?"

"Oh, I would say so. Most definitely."

"Well, I guess that's that," Tony sighed with fake reluctance and held Pepper's hand. "Ready to finish the agreement, Mrs. Stark."

"I do what I must," Pepper said, standing up when Tony did.

"Whoa, wait just a minute here!" Jack flailed his arms. "This is preposterous! And you," he pointed an accusing finger towards Melanie, "What the hell are you doing to me? You're supposed to protect our interests, not theirs!"

"And I am, Jack," Melanie's tone continued to be calm and collected despite her rapidly beating heart, not once before ever having the opportunity or the courage to stand up to her husband as she was doing so right now. "You told Tony you would continue the contract if he were to engage in a _fun time_ with someone on premise. I'm quite certain that he will fulfill his end of the bargain, and so will we."

"But–"

"I'm kind of tired," Melanie interrupted what she was sure would be nothing more than a rant from her husband. "I think I'll head back home now, since the meeting is done."

"And we'll head back to our hotel," Tony said.

"See you both tomorrow at the company tour?" Melanie asked.

"Bright and early," Pepper replied, the three of them speaking as if Jack Dobson was not even present near them.

"Wonderful evening, Jack, Melanie," Tony gave the woman a respectful nod. "Have a great night."

"You too," Melanie pleasantly nodded towards the departing couple, a smile on her face, before she turned back to her wide-eyed, jaw-slacked husband and looked him up and down. "Hurry up, Jack! It's almost feeding time again, and I need a nap."

"What's… what's that supposed to mean?"

"That you're feeding Jack while I sleep. Wake me up next time he's hungry."

"What?! I will do no such–"

"Oh, and we need to figure out what baby formula we're gonna feed him," she added. "My milk supply is dry."

"Formula? Dry? What does that even… what?"

"Time's-a-wasting, Jack," Melanie called over her shoulder, her legs already taking her and her son towards the exit of the club. "Chop, chop!"

Bewildered and at a rare loss for words, Jack Dobson shook his head, exhaled through his nose and teeth, and then begrudgingly followed whatever demon had taken over his wife's body for the night, trying to ignore the slight hardening in his groin, brought on by the never-before-seen spectacle of his timid wife issuing orders to him. He refused to acknowledge the small wave of confused excitement that had come over him from this new development, and he quickly buried it under his pride and ego, embarrassed with himself for having such a reaction to this inconceivable turn of events. He was not sure what in the world had just happened in the span of five minutes, but he was willing to bet that their guests were to blame for this ridiculous charade.

 _Damn Tony Stark_ , Jack furrowed his brow and dragged his feet. _And his little wife, too._

XxxXXXxxx

 _Everything and everyone was getting in his way, no matter how hard he fought and how fast he ran, but he kept pushing through anyway. There was no universe in which he was not going to be on the other end of the track when she reached it. There was no reality in which he was not going to be there to save her life._

 _"Jarvis, get me a suit right now!"_

 _He continued running, hopping, and avoiding enhanced soldiers left and right; the demands of the job suddenly taking a toll on his body in his old age, slowing him down when he could not afford to do so. When the requested suit failed to engulf him, he groaned in response._

" _Oh, come on!"_

 _For a brief moment, he thought and feared that he was not going to make it. That he was going to fail her, just as he had failed her many times before. But then, as he watched Rhodey do the impossible while saving the President, he knew that he could do it too: do the implausible to save the woman he loved. Once he finally reached her, however, the task looked ten times as daunting as it had appeared to be before. Yet, there was no time to waste dwelling in minor details such as the complexity of a rescue attempt._

" _Pep, I got you. Relax, I got you."_

 _Pepper could hardly extend her arm to try to reach his. If she fumbled, even if just for a second, she would lose her grip and fall._

" _Just look at me!"_

 _The metal contraption continued to shake, violently so, making it even more difficult for Pepper to hold onto it and for him to grab her hand._

" _Honey, I can't reach any further and you can't stay there, all right? You've got to let go."_

 _He tried to sound confident but he was scared witless beyond belief. He knew his eyes were probably glistening with unshed tears, perhaps not giving her the confidence in him that she needed, but he could not help how scared he felt for her life._

" _You've got to let go! I'll catch you, I promise."_

 _Her eyes were so full of trust in him that it physically hurt him, especially when she nodded firmly at him and at his request. Here she was, on the verge of falling to her death, and she was looking at him as if it was nothing, simply because he was reaching out to her, telling her that everything was going to be alright. That_ _ **he**_ _was going to make it all right._

 _Why she had believed him, he was not sure. But she had. She had believed him without a second thought. And then, she was slipping past his fingers after a vicious jerk of the crane, falling to the already-on-fire ground._

 _"NOOOO!"_

Tony sat up. His ribcage was constricting any influx of air into his lungs, and his eyes were seeing dancing spots. He began hyperventilating so deeply and loudly that he was sure he was either having a heart attack or was on the verge of a stroke. His nails desperately scratched at his neck and shoulders, instantly leaving red angry marks in their wake. His hands then wildly patted around himself, searching for something he did know what it was, making the use of his already dangerously low energy for such a fruitless task a sad waste.

He initially could not make sense of where he was; his mind was still caught somewhere between reality and fantasy, firing images of Pepper falling down so vividly before him that they overlapped his current surroundings. His entire body was shaking and sweaty. His temperature uncomfortably high. Yet, before he began screaming his lungs out again and thrashing as if he was being tortured and killed, he heard a soft voice whispering near his ear that made him turn his head to his right.

"Tony. Tony, look at me. It's a dream. A nightmare. Breathe, baby. Breathe."

His gaze gradually trailed from staring at the mattress up to Pepper's form until it locked with her blue eyes, finding in them almost instant relief. His breathing was still ragged. His brain still showed him blurry versions of his nightmare, and his ears continued to ring with the sounds of imploding flying suits of armor and a screeching crane. Slowly but surely, however, as the redhead continued to offer words of comfort and encouragement but refrained from touching him just yet, the dream sounds and images began dissipating until nothing but Pepper's worried face remained.

Tony breathed deeply and licked his overly dried lips, the energy he had expended dreaming suddenly leaving him. His head lolled forward and hung. His arms nearly failed to hold him up, prompting Pepper to slide over to where he sat to snake her arms under his and press his chest against hers. He did not even try to pretend that he did not need her help. He surely did not hold back the whimper of leftover fear that escaped his lips when she kissed his jaw. He simply melted into her warm and soft embrace and snuggled his face between her shoulder and neck, breathing her in as if his life depended on it.

"Did…" Tony's voice was breaking, afraid of what her response would be. "Did I hurt you, Pep?"

"No," she answered honestly with a faint shake of her head, knowing that he was worried that his uncontrolled thrashing in bed had earned her an accidental punch or kick from him... again. "You didn't hurt me. Just scared me. Are you OK?"

"Yeah, just… give me a minute," he gulped. "I'll… I'll be OK."

She nodded to him and then closed her eyes, the fingers in her right hand combing his hair and massaging his scalp to try to soothe him. He instantly closed his eyes as well, familiar with the current gesture and welcoming it more than he cared to admit aloud. This was a practiced method that they had begun using after openly talking about his trauma. This was how she helped him relax after having one of his bad dreams. On some occasions, the tender gesture would be followed by gentle lovemaking, but he doubted that this was going to be one of those times. He would take whatever he could get, nonetheless, as long as he had a chance to wake up and realize the nightmare was just that. As long as he got to come back to a reality where she still lived.

Pepper patiently waited for the signs that he had gathered his bearings. Sometimes, it took only seconds. Sometimes, it took getting up, showering, kind caresses, affectionate words, and a cuddling nap. It was always unpredictable, how unstable he would be after a nightmare. She never expected the aftermath of them to be the same, no matter the type or length of the dream. The only constant was how broken and vulnerable Tony looked and felt afterwards. How he always searched for fortitude and comfort from her. For a man that had not batted an eye when telling the Norse god of mischief and evil that he had performance issues, it was almost surreal to her how a simple dream would break his spirit and resolve until there was none.

Even though she knew that she was pushing their boundaries, she continued to rub the back of his head and neck, and lightly pressed her lips against his jawline and cheek, relishing when she felt his skin crawl. She would be lying if she said that the roughness of his stubble against her face did not light a fire between her legs. And she would be the biggest hypocrite in the galaxy if she denied that she was enjoying how his body was reacting to her touch. It was unfair to him, she knew, given his current state of affairs, but she also knew that this was the most she could offer him without crossing a line that now existed between them.

She bit down a moan when he trailed her neck with his nose, only to then follow the same path back down to her shoulder with nothing but small puffs of air from his mouth. She was not sure if that had been for her or for him, but she welcomed the fondness either way.

"I kicked his ass, remember?" Pepper whispered in his ear once he stilled his movements and his breathing returned to normal. "He got what he deserved and I kicked his ass."

As hoped, the remark made the inventor chuckle lightly before he pulled his head back from her shoulder and wiped away the remnants of tears.

"That you did. Possibly the only guy I'm proud to say my girl got to blow."

"Tony!" she smacked him on the chest, partly offended by his comment, but too amused by it to really get mad.

" _Up_ ," he added. "Blow _up_. You didn't let me finish. Or him, for that matter. Oh, shit! That's an even worse pun."

"Oh, God! Please, stop it."

"Sorry," he sniffled and chuckled again. "Couldn't resist."

"Oh, I'm sure," she smirked.

The billionaire looked down and exhaled, allowing the levity of the moment to aid him in reaching full recovery. He then slid away from her until his back rested against the headboard, his legs stretched on the bed. He closed his eyes as he caught his breath, willing his body and mind to relax and join the rest of the world. When he opened his eyes again, Pepper was mimicking his position, her legs crossed at the ankles. Their legs were covered by the blankets, but their torsos were exposed to the dim light coming from the poorly covered floor-to-ceiling window of the master bedroom at their hotel room. He made a habit of sleeping shirtless, but Pepper had put on a pink satin gown that had mocked him until he had fallen asleep. And it was mocking him yet again.

He averted his eyes from her, keeping them looking at the shadows before him, before she surprised him by holding his right hand with her left one and speaking again.

"Better? Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," he tightened his grip on her.

"No, you're not better or, no, you don't want to talk about it?"

"Talk. About it. Better, I am."

Pepper scrunched up her nose. "Are you trying to talk like Yoda?"

"Oh, sweet Jesus!" Tony closed his eyes and moaned. "What are you trying to do, woman, talking dirty like that to me?

This time, she laughed aloud. "Sorry, Mr. Stark. Didn't know you had a fetish for tiny green Jedi's that can use the Force."

"Oh, Lord," he hit the back of the bed with his head a couple of times. "Seriously, Pep. Cut it out. I can't be held liable for my actions if you keep using Star Wars references in bed."

"What? Why? Do you feel yourself being drawn by the Dark Side?"

Instead of verbally responding, Tony simply stared at her and licked his lips, exhaling slowly and visibly shivering before he clenched his eyes shut and looked away.

"Sorry," she let go of his hand and cleared her throat. "I just wanted to distract you."

"Well, it worked."

"Too well?"

"Yup."

"Sorry. Again."

"It's alright."

Knowing that he needed a moment to recover, she fidgeted in her spot and stole side glances at Tony as he attempted to hide the physical effects that her teasing had had on him. She would not dare to mention that she could tell that she had crossed the line, but she would also not show that she felt secretly proud that she could still do that to him. When the silence between them extended itself more than usual and it became too much for her, she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind

"Are you nervous about tomorrow?"

The random question took the genius by surprise.

"Nervous? Why? Because we have to deal with the consequences of you dropping by at a strip club with Jack's step-son and wife? Nah. Not at all. It's what we do all day, every day."

"I meant tomorrow _night_."

"Oh," Tony pursed his lips and began fidgeting himself. "Oh, that part. Yeah. That part. Yup. Terrified. Fucking terrified."

"Don't be," Pepper rested her hand on his bicep. "He was happy to know you wanted to drop by. You two are gonna have a great talk."

"Maybe he was happy because he doesn't have to fly to the States to shoot me between the eyes."

"Tony, please," Pepper rolled her eyes. "Jarvis said he was glad to hear from you."

"Maybe he was just having a senile moment on the phone. Probably has no clue who he was talking to. He IS old, you know?"

"But he's still sharp as a tack."

"Yeah, the tack he's gonna use to poke an eye out of me once he opens the door and he forgets that I'm supposed to go see him tomorrow."

Pepper sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Are you sure you can't stay with me?" he pleaded. "Have my back?"

"I'm sure," Pepper pulled her hand away from his arm and then tucked her legs under herself. "You two need time alone to catch up, and I told Melanie I was going to go out with her. I can only do that tomorrow night, and you can only visit Jarvis tomorrow too, since we're leaving the next morning."

"But, Pepper," he whined and turned to his side to face her. "In sickness and in health, right? You can't just leave me to my own devices and hope it'll be all right. I'm unstable, reckless, narcissistic, and a ticking time bomb. You know that! You knew that when you married me. Your duty as a wife is to keep me in check."

"I have a life, you know? I can't live my life _and_ watch over you full time. Never get anything done."

"Ugh, you're so cruel," he crossed his arms over his chest and pouted.

Pepper scoffed at his childish attitude and shook her head at him before she curled up to him to give him the support she knew he needed from her.

"It's going to be OK, Tony. I promise. Just, don't go in there with your mask. Be yourself. Your normal, kind self. The same kind side of you that took that kid in Queens under your wing."

"That's different."

"How?" she rested her chin on his upper arm to look up at him and he responded by throwing his right arm over her shoulders to pull her closer to him.

"That kid already idolized Iron Man. He didn't care if the man under the suit was impulsive. Jarvis, on the other hand, he hated being in the middle of all that. It came with the job and he never not helped my dad, but… But that's how he… that lifestyle… that's why Ana died."

"His wife?"

"Yeah. He was helping Agent Carter with a mission… one of many," Tony elaborated, recalling the details of the mission he had read a long time ago. "Ana was taken from him to get him to stop. She was gone for weeks. They tortured her and…when he got her back, she was…"

"Oh," Pepper swallowed hard when he did not continue his response, easily putting together what his words had all but implied. She then pressed the left side of her face against his chest and closed her eyes. "I didn't know that."

"Yeah. And… I can't even blame him for it, you know? Because, when I lost you… when I thought I lost you… I know what he felt. I know what he probably still feels. I… I don't think I'd still be alive, if that had been me. I don't think I'd want to see or be around anyone that reminded me of what I'd lost. Just anything that reminded me that you died because of something I did or didn't do."

Pepper nodded, a tiny fear growing in her that pushing Tony to meet up with Jarvis was probably not a good idea after all.

"Do you… do you think that's why he left? Why he quit?"

"Could be," Tony shrugged. "It was a year after Ana died that he left. Maybe it took him that long to realize it wasn't ever going to get any better for him. Or maybe he was just tired of the hero life. It's not as glamorous as some make it seem, I'll have you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"But I still want to see him," Tony added after a pause. "Even if he throws me out afterwards and tells me to fuck off. I still want to go through with it. I hope I don't chicken out. It may be the last time I see him. Speak to him. I'd rather have the chance than not at all."

 _Like with his parents_ , Pepper mused, sadness for his situation tugging at her heart. _Jarvis is the last connection he has to them. If he misses his chance…_

With that discouraging thought in mind, Pepper shook her head lightly and knew that she could not let him backdown from this. He _had_ to talk to Jarvis tomorrow, pour his heart out to him, no matter what. She would not let him regret not going. He would carry that remorse with him to his grave, if she let him. She had to ensure that he walked in there with his head up high, ready to bond with the man that had helped raise him. She _had_ to give him the push he needed to do what they both knew was right.

"Well," she sat up straight, locked eyes with him, and held his face in her hands. "If he doesn't tell you to fuck off, make sure you tell him everything you have on your mind. Don't leave anything out. Make it count. Promise?"

"Promise," he replied without hesitation.

"Good. I know you won't let me down."

Tony mirrored her smile and nodded at her as his hands surrounded her wrists. She leaned forward to kiss his forehead and, as she was pulling back, she flinched when she noticed that some of the scratches on his neck that he had inflicted onto himself when he had woken up from his nightmare had blood on them. They probably looked worse than they actually hurt him, but she still felt nauseated at the sight.

"Oh, shit," she pulled away from him to turn on the lamp on her side of the bed and then rushed back to him.

"What?" Tony let her fingers under his chin tilt his head back so that she could further inspect the damage done.

"You're bleeding. Let me clean that up."

"Bleeding… from what?" Tony asked, but then he realized what she was referring to and waved off her concern with his hand. "Forget it, Pep. It's nothing."

"There's blood involved," she said as she stood up from the bed and walked over to the master bathroom. "It's not nothing if there's blood."

"I could've gotten this from a mosquito bite," he argued but he still allowed her to tend to his scratches when she came back to bed.

"But we know you didn't. You get enough bruises and scratches from being Iron Man. We don't need any more of them left untreated."

"But these are not—SON OF A BITCH! Is that alcohol?"

"Yup."

"That stings!"

"Does it?" she said in a mocking tone as she continued to dab the cotton ball on his neck. "But I thought you said it was nothing."

"Fine," he spat. "You win. They're not nothing."

"Thought so," she replied smugly before she returned her attention to the first aid kit by her bent legs. It never failed to amaze her how inconsistent pain tolerance was in men. In spite of the protection the suit offered, Tony had still taken brutal beatings from super soldiers, human furnaces, killer robots, actual _gods_ , and a monster made of radiation and rage, and had more or less shrugged it all off like it was just a day at the office; something she knew she could have never done. Dab a little alcohol onto a shallow cut, however, and he was reduced to a little kid again, crying over the burning sensation. It was nothing short of amusing.

"What, you're not done?" Tony asked when he noticed that she was still sorting through the box. "Looking for something else to torture me with?"

"Maybe," she deadpanned, continued searching for five more seconds, and then turned back to him with ointment in her hand. "Here, stop bitching. This will soothe your skin and prevent an infection."

"An infection? From what? Pepper, it's just a nail scratch, not a zombie bite."

"I thought we agreed it wasn't nothing?"

"FINE!"

He silently and patiently waited while she used her fingertips to dab the cream on the worst parts of the scratches on his neck and shoulders to her liking and leisure. He could feel that she was being extra careful with her task, as if she could make it any worse than it already was, and he had to hold back an amused grin and scoff.

"There you go. All done."

"Until tomorrow," he said with a smile, aware that she would repeat the procedure on him until the evidence of his nightmare was gone.

"At least you know what to expect," she replied, stood up from the bed, and walked back to the master bathroom, first aid kit in tow, to return it to its spot. When she joined him in the bed once more, she made sure to turn off the bed lamp and then rested her back against the headboard again.

"Thank you, Pep," Tony whispered into the night, his hand finding hers on the mattress and holding it tight. "For… for the nightmare help. The talk… the rubbing alcohol from hell…"

"You're welcome," she replied. "Especially for the alcohol."

"Sadist."

"Masochist."

"Oooh, yeah…"

They both instantly chuckled at the inappropriate memories the words brought to them, but then they went silent almost immediately after that.

"Pepper?"

"Yeah?"

"You…" he hesitated.

"Yeah?" she urged him, turned her head towards him and waited for his response. After a minute of stillness and silence, she thought he had given up. However, he then surprised her by turning to stare at her with pure adoration in his face, and looked her in the eye.

"You're the best wife I've ever had."

"I'm the _only_ wife you've ever had."

"Yeah," he looked away, "You're right."

"But hey," she tugged at his hand. "For what it's worth, you're also the best husband I've ever had."

He snickered, nodded, and then pulled her hand to his lips to kiss the back of it before she tugged it away from him and turned to her side.

"Good night, husband."

"Good night, wife."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hope you enjoyed this! I took some liberties with Jarvis' backstory from Agent Carter, as some of you may have noticed. Sadly, we don't get to see Tony and Jarvis' talk, but it'll go alright. Next stop is Pretoria, South Africa. Hope to see you there!


	7. Chapter 6: Pretoria

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Thank you for the favorite/follow:** _Poosa-ard, Amaranthais, TykerrowxDepp, 16milesperhour, Owens Ash, fanfictor101, cheerychick05,_ _Naiky96 and Luzydeath._

 **Stark13: Every time I see there is an update on your fic, I'm so excited ! I just can't wait tout read it ! Thanks again for your story ! –** Thank you! I know the execution and update schedule for this story has been a hot mess. Thank you so much for your patience with it and for not losing hope ^_^

 **Pepperonylove: I love it! Hope to see more fluff. I miss Pepperony so much. Your fic realy helps alleviate the pain CW caused. Lols. Im still hoping for a Stark baby. :( :( :( Pls update soon! Thanks for this! : -** Awww! I miss them too! Especially now that they're in a better place in this fic I think it's therapeutic for all of us until MCU brings back our Pepperony.

 **hadley: Love the revamped format and this chapter OMG! When Pepper brought up Spidey I legit died! Your writing seriously makes me so happy 333** – Thank you! I haven't spoiled myself about anything for Homecoming, but I hope Pepper gets mentioned at least!

 **Kate: PLEASE next chapter, your story is a masterpiece** – Thank you :) *blushes* Here it be!

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Pretoria**

As soon as the jet had landed, the couple knew that their regular business attire was not going to do them any favors in Pretoria. The typically warm and humid city felt arid and unbearably hot. The last time he had been here, he had come alone. It had been raining like crazy, the temperature at a comfortable 60 degrees Fahrenheit with a nice breeze. At the moment, however, as they stood on the runway of the airport, their clothes were sticking to their skin and sweat ran down their faces as if someone had poured several buckets of it over their heads.

"You think Yolandi is controlling the weather now?"

After her inquiry, Pepper ran the back of her hand over her forehead as they waited for the arrival of the delayed shuttle that would take them to yet another posh and, hopefully, cold hotel. It had only been half an hour since they had landed, but she was already starting to feel weak and dehydrated under the harsh sun. The jet had been shut down completely to get it ready for the next flight, which left them both at the mercy of the heat.

"To get me out of my pants again, you mean?" Tony asked, dreading their meeting with one of the many women he regretted spending the night with during his playboy past, and not skirting away from putting out there the issue that would be the center of their conversation while Yolandi was around. She had been one of the few women he had bedded several times – every time he visited South Africa, in fact, but it had all been casual and without any strings attached.

Or so Tony had thought.

"Or to watch me melt into the ground," Pepper sighed and pulled at the front of her blouse to bring in some air. "She didn't like me when I was just your assistant. She's gonna hate me now."

Tony wished that Pepper was just being paranoid or joking; perhaps a victim of the extreme heat, but he knew that she was not. It was no secret that Yolandi had always looked down on Pepper Potts due to the strong bond that she and Tony had always had, and also because she was a firm believer that any woman who _made a living serving a man_ was an embarrassment to all the other females in the world. It had not mattered to Yolandi that Pepper Potts was the only woman that the billionaire had respected and trusted enough to keep around all these years without having to get into her pants first, or that the redhead had been the only woman to have had the balls, determination, perseverance and patience to keep a leash on the eccentric man. Or, more recently, that Pepper Potts was the head of his fucking foundation or that she was still the CEO of Stark Industries.

Either way, as ridiculous as Pepper's query had sounded, if anyone anywhere were to come up with a way to control the weather for one's own personal gain, Yolandi Venter would be the one to achieve this feat, no questions asked. It was as if the woman liked to use her powers for evil… sometimes.

Yolandi was a rather attractive woman with a brain that almost rivaled Tony's. She was a talented scientist at heart, but her logic and rationality was often overwhelmed by her compulsive need to control everything and everyone around her. When it came to her company and donations, she did have the best interests of the world as a whole at heart, but she also liked things to be done her way and only her way, free of rebuttals from anyone.

Back in the day, Tony had found it intriguing and exhilarating to get a dominating woman like Yolandi to be submissive in bed; a task he had accomplished without much trouble, several times. Nowadays, he would kill for a time machine to go back and kick himself in the nuts until they turned blue for thinking that way about the female mogul. Ironically enough, said time machine would probably be built either by Yolandi herself too, or by her buddy, Elon Musk.

Because, oh, yes! Pretoria was home to many scholars and scientists, despite the perception the world had of the locale. Hell, South Africa itself was the proud home of the first successful heart transplant, particularly the city of Cape Town. Many people would have not guessed the African country at the southmost tip of the continent to have such an impact in science and medicine, but it did and it was. Most of the bright minds of the area originated from one of the three capitals of the country, particularly the one they were visiting right now.

"You know what I'm thinking, Tony?" Pepper used her left hand to fan her quickly reddening face.

"What are you thinking, Pep?"

"Our investors are jerks. All of them. Almost. Why do we hang out with them? Because of their money? I say: fuck'em. Fuck'em all!"

Tony's eyebrows shot to his hairline. Hearing Pepper curse was always amusing to him, simply because of how rare it was for it to take place. He knew that Pepper was not really looking for a response either, but rather to vent due to the discomfort of meeting Yolandi being augmented by the hot weather, so he just laughed and gave her a side hug.

"We can do this, Pepper. If we stick together, we'll be fine. And with this sweat clinging to us, I think we're pretty much stuck."

Pepper smirked at this sweet attempt at a joke and returned the embrace with one of her arms around his waist, even if what she truly wanted was to keep herself from anything that could reign in the heat.

"You mean you _don't_ want me to leave you alone with Yolandi while we're here?"

Tony grimaced. "That. And I don't want _you_ to stay alone with her either," his tone turned serious. "You know how possessive she gets. I don't want her thinking you're OK being the guinea pig for any of the Space X projects of Elon's."

"I'd rather be on Mars right now, to be honest with you."

"And I'd rather be there with you too, believe it or not. Probably colder than here. Martians probably more hospitable, too."

The laughter that followed Tony's teasing ended when they saw the shuttle finally arriving to take them away from this heat. And their relief then plummeted when they saw Yolandi exiting the vehicle from the passenger's side.

"Well, well, well!" Yolandi fast-walked towards the couple, her high heels clicking loudly on the asphalt. "If it isn't the most talked about duo of the past few days. Welcome to Pretoria!"

Despite Tony's body language, Yolandi pulled him towards her for a hug, her body practically rubbing itself onto the genius. In contrast, she then in turn simply extended her hand towards the redhead, barely making contact with Pepper's hand, scowling as if she was avoiding someone carrying the plague.

"How was the flight?" Yolandi then asked, snapping her fingers at the driver of the shuttle to take the bags onto the back.

"Long."

Tony grabbed Pepper's hand in his when he saw her wobble a bit, and then led them both to the back of the shuttle car. He could tell that Pepper's skin was starting to burn already. She never tanned. For her sake, they needed to get her hydrated and under the shade as quickly as possible. "Would love to get out of this heat," Tony added after a brief pause.

"Oh, of course," Yolandi feigned understanding as she followed the couple towards the vehicle. "I forget that foreigners can't handle the weather here. You look like shit warmed over, Ms. Potts."

 _Yeah_ , _that sounds about right,_ Pepper thought with disdain of the woman who appeared to not be wasting time in executing her attempts at humiliation.

" _Mrs._ Stark," Tony said before Pepper could muster the will and the energy to correct Yolandi.

"Yeah, I don't see it?" Yolandi's condescending smile was followed by a scoff.

"What don't you see?" Tony narrowed his eyes.

"No offense, Tony. I just…" she shook her head and then stared at Pepper, "You were his assistant for an eternity and a half. No career ambitions despite your higher education. You seemed pretty content being his bitch. I just don't picture how this marriage will last. Tony is a man of big dreams… and you're just… you, you know? You're not even a scientist. What could you two possibly talk about when grunt company work is not involved?"

"Excuse me?"

Pepper's face and tone of voice showed that, despite her utter discomfort with the weather, she was seconds away from losing her business façade. It was one thing to deal with the subtleties of the two men that had all but implied several offensive statements about her and her gender's worth, but another to be bluntly insulted and demeaned without second thought by another woman. Both of them had known that Yolandi was not one to sugarcoat her thoughts or to pull her punches, and that she would definitely have a strong opinion against their union, but neither of them had expected to be so harshly hit by her venom within two minutes of saying _hello_. They had not even left the runway yet, for fuck's sake! Could they not just turn around and head back? Maybe have a sleepover with Raul Contreras? The man's closed-minded remarks seemed like pleasantries just about now.

Unfortunately, Yolandi was not yet done.

"Like I said: no offense, but–"

"Let me stop you right there," Tony began, "You _think_ you know what that phrase means, Yolandi, but you really don't. So, how about you stop saying it, we get in this car, and get to our hotel. Pepper and I need to cool off and relax."

"Oh!" Yolandi smiled, not at all fazed by Tony's dismissive remark. "I forgot to tell you… probably should've started with that: there are no hotels, Tony. You'll be staying at my place."

"No," was Pepper's deadpanned response. She would rather stay under a tree with a leaf as a fan and cardboard as a bed than anywhere near this woman at all.

"Yes," Yolandi offered her yet another one of her smug smiles as she got into the front passenger seat of the car. "There's a science conference in town. The hotels have been booked for months."

"We booked in advance," Tony argued, begrudgingly leading Pepper inside the back seat of the _Evil Carriage of Hell_ and closing the door behind them.

"At one of my newly acquired hotels," Yolandi replied.

"You… you bought a hotel? The hotel we're staying in?" Tony held back a groan. He could tell how this was going to work out.

"Yes. It's good business at times like these. Easy money and easy tax breaks."

"So, you can get us a room in it, then?" Pepper asked, her half-closed eyes fixed on the air conditioning controls no one had yet bothered to turn on.

"Oh, I wish I could," Yolandi began lowering the window of her door. "But, like I said, every room has been booked. Even yours. We had an important party that would make better use of such a large penthouse, so we made the trade."

"So, you gave it away?" Tony was grinding his teeth now; Pepper leaning heavily on him. "You gave away our room? Without consulting us?"

"Of course! It made better sense to stay at my place, if your intent is to come meet with me, after all. Don't you agree?"

" _WHAT?_ I can't believe that–"

"Oh! Roll down your windows, sweetheart," Yolandi put on her sunglasses and smiled, not at all remorseful for interrupting Tony's reply. "The A/C is not an option right now. It doesn't bother us locals but… yeah…"

"What?"

"And it's not an option at my place, either. Or anywhere we go, really. The entire city is on an energy abuse ban. Part of the conference spirit. Trying to bring awareness to reducing the impact of non-renewable fuel on the planet. You're getting a true Pretoria weather experience this time around."

"No," Tony shook his head from side to side. "Turn on that damn A/C right now."

"Can't," Yolandi snapped her fingers at the driver and he started the car.

"Yolandi, I'm not asking you again…"

"Good, because the answer won't change," the woman replied, clearly not at all threatened by Iron Man's alter ego. "I can't be seen breaking the rule _I_ set up for this week, now can I? I have a reputation to keep, Stark. And you know how important reputations are for people like us."

 _Dammit!_ Tony inwardly groaned. He _did_ know.

"But Pepper–"

"Can put up with it like the rest of us," Yolandi interrupted. "And, if I were you, I'd open that window for her. She looks like she's about to pass out."

Tony's head snapped towards his left to see that the redhead had closed her eyes now, barely conscious as he held her up with one arm while the other rolled down the window on her side. Her freckles were so pronounced that he could barely see the rest of her skin. The clothes clung to her in wide layers of dampness. He could already see the redness of inflamed and soon-to-be-peeling skin on her face, evidence that the sunscreen had already been melted away by the sweat and heat.

His poor ginger looked so miserable and ill, and it seemed as if her discomfort was just getting started. Maybe their earlier joke had not been that far off. Maybe Yolandi _was_ playing Mother Nature, if just to see how much she could fuck with them – how similarly ruthless and unforgiving she could be, while at it.

Luckily for Tony, he could be an asshole, too, if he felt like it.

And, unfortunately for Yolandi Venter, he _totally_ felt like it.

xxxXXXxxx

If Tony Stark did not know any better, he would claim that this outlandish situation was simply an attempt by their host to kill his partner. Thankfully, he did know better – he hoped… and he also knew how to even out a dirty fight.

"Tony?"

Pepper's voice was barely a whisper. Her eyes were closed and her head lolled from side to side. She felt frail and almost limp in his arms as he carried her through the threshold and into to their guestroom. Yolandi was hot on his heels, as if she were gladly invited to whatever happened next. The over-the-top clinginess she had been displaying since their arrival was starting to get on his nerves. Despite Tony's coldness towards her, the woman had not given an indication of having any intention of letting up any time soon; no matter how much of a bother she was to the couple or how much of a hypocrite she was making of herself by desperately seeking the attention of a man that clearly had no interest in her. There she had been, putting Pepper down for many years for lowering herself by _serving a man_ , yet here was Yolandi herself, begging for some sort of mind from a very apathetic Tony Stark.

Tony ground his teeth in anger at the thought, suddenly wanting nothing more than to turn around on his heels and tell off Yolandi Venter in a way that was evident to her that she was free to go perform a crude act of the sexual kind on herself, preferably by inserting a long cylindrical object directly into her anus. To his dismay, however, his hope of action was halted by the sudden discomfort that abruptly enveloped him as he reached the middle of the room. He felt as if he was setting himself alight – as if he had just strolled inside a heating oven at its highest broiling setting. As if he had unexpectedly returned to the dry, unforgiven desert in Afghanistan.

"What the hell?"

Hell. It certainly _felt_ like it.

"Oh!" Yolandi covered her mouth with her right and hand to hide a smile as she pointed towards the wall with her free hand. "I forgot to open the windows in here. This place is a boiler, huh?"

The inventor did not bother to reply or even look at the woman. He simply narrowed his eyes.

Of course she did! _Of course_ she would pull this stunt on them. She knew that Pepper did not handle high temperatures well. She knew that his woman was genetically susceptible to the power of the big, yellow ball in the sky because of her ginger traits. It was one of the reasons why Tony had had, in the past, plenty of time to fool around with Yolandi while visiting South Africa: because Pepper could barely withstand the walk to and from vehicles under the Pretorian sun.

Oh, Yolandi would pay for this dearly. She would regret ever crossing him and trying to harm what belonged to Tony Stark. He would make sure of it.

Even though his hands were itching to shake the insane woman to oblivion, his full attention returned to Pepper as he carefully laid her on the bed and sat next to her by the side of the mattress. Yolandi would get what was coming to her. Yet for now, he had to care for his wife first.

"Honey, are you still with me?" Tony grabbed one of Pepper's hands in both of his and pressed it against his chest.

"Mmhhh?"

"It's gonna be OK," he kissed her hand. "Just give me a minute to think, alright?"

Pepper weakly nodded and Tony ran the back of his hand down her feverish face. His gaze was filled with both deep concern and endless adoration for his woman, despite the precarious situation – a look that Yolandi evidently did not appear to appreciate if not directed at herself. Tony could not care less about what Yolandi thought or believed that she deserved. They had only been in Pretoria for an hour, and all the insufferable woman had done so far was put Pepper through hell. She was being smart about it, too. Who would blame her if Pepper ended up hospitalized due to heatstroke or severe dehydration? It was just the way the weather was in the city. There was nothing anyone could do or blame anyone for if _foreigners_ did not take additional precautions to deal with Mother Nature in Pretoria. To top it off, since the locals were so used to such situations, Pepper would receive proper care long before she would be in mortal danger from the heat exposure, so Yolandi would avoid taking her petty torments too far.

"I think she might be indisposed for the day," Yolandi said nonchalantly, as if the redhead was simply taking a nap.

Tony pulled his gaze away from Pepper and stared all around himself, her hand still in one of his, searching for a possible solution to their current predicament. Opening the windows was the easiest thing to do right now, but he was aware that with the air being as hot and dry as he already knew that it was, it would not really bring any relief to the redhead. It would probably only make it worse for her.

"So?"

"We have a business meeting in thirty minutes. Wanna _come_ into my office and get an early start?"

"No."

"Why not? It's not like Virginia can join us. Might as well get right down _to business_."

Tony spared Yolandi a furious glance, knowing damn well that the business she wanted to get down to was not of the kind he wanted to get involved with. Not with her. It nearly disgusted the inventor to watch the woman's attempts at getting him into bed with her, while his very much ill wife was lying next to them, perhaps on the verge of needing medical attention, by the looks of it.

"You got ice?" Tony stood up from the bed and ran towards the kitchenette area of the guestroom, groaning when he found the fridge empty of cold water or ice.

 _Cold water!_ Tony snapped his fingers and grinned. _That's it!_

"You know what?" Tony shrugged off his blazer and threw it on a chair. "You're right. I'll see you in the office in twenty."

"Oh?" Yolandi could not hold back the look of victory on her face, especially when Tony began taking off his vest and then started undoing the buttons of his shirt.

"You have a point," Tony continued, hopping from foot to foot until his shoes were off; untucking his shirt from his pants coming next. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can leave. Get Pepper out of this damn heat."

"What?"

"That's the bathroom, right?" Tony pointed towards a door by the corner of the room, earning him a dumbfounded nod from Yolandi.

"Yeah."

"Cool!"

Before Yolandi could gain control over her vocal chords, Tony returned to Pepper and took off her shoes. He then lifted her up in his arms once more, gave Yolandi a winning smirk, and then pointed towards the exit of the room with his chin, a clear indication that he expected her and wanted her to leave.

"I'll be there soon. My wife and I are gonna take a cold shower. Together. You probably don't wanna be in the room for this. We like to do other things in there, too."

Tony's smug look on his face as he carried Pepper into the bathroom with him was not lost to Yolandi Venter. In fact, it only made her blood boil hotter than the room she was now alone in. Nevertheless, the feeling of being throw into an active volcano in the middle of an eruption was nothing compared to the sense of humiliation that befell her when she heard the shower running and then the weak yet very recognizable sound of Pepper Potts and Tony Stark laughing aloud.

The score was now tied.

 _Oh, Tony. You're so going to pay for that!_

xxxXXXxxx

He was five minutes late to their meeting when he finally stood by the door of her office, his hair still damp from the shower, barefoot, and not wearing a shirt – looking too comfortable for a business trip. He did not walk inside the office, however. Instead, he snapped his fingers at her to make sure he had her full attention before he finally spoke.

"Grab your shit. We're having the meeting in the guestroom."

"Excuse me?"

"Pep's feeling much better," he grinned, looking not at all remorseful for his derisive tone. "And our room is more comfortable, too. Hurry up!"

Tony did not give Yolandi a chance to make any type of reply before he disappeared down the hall, confident that the woman would follow him without question. Begrudgingly, Yolandi stood from her chair, grabbed her electronic tablet and her cell phone, and then followed the inventor to his room. He made no effort to slow down his fast pace, either, forcing the female investor to almost take on a sprint in her own damn home to be able to catch up with him.

She watched with angry eyes as Tony stood outside the entrance of the guestroom, holding the door open for her and impatiently waving her over. The move made her shiver in fury at his patronizing antics, her mind already plotting her next move. Nevertheless, as she was just a few feet away from where Tony stood, she felt a shiver run down her spine for a completely different reason than her rage. The air around her suddenly felt cold – almost bitter – and she could not help but narrowing her eyes in confusion.

"Feels nice, huh?" Tony smiled when he realized Yolandi was catching on to what he had done, and he then roughly pushed her inside the room when the scene before her made her freeze in her tracks.

The room was no longer on fire. It was quite the opposite, in fact. And that was not the only thing that had changed.

Pepper Potts did not look miserable at all anymore, and she was also now wide awake. She was dressed in casual clothes, too – in short-shorts, of all things, showing off her long and surprisingly toned legs. She was also barefoot, sporting perfectly manicured feet, sitting across the two-person couch. She held a tall glass of lemonade in one hand, clearly reveling the feel of cold air against her once-parched skin. The windows and curtains remained closed, and there were no pedestal fans to be seen, adding to the momentary confusion as to how this was even taking place. The redhead had been barely conscious just half an hour ago. Now, she looked like she was ready to hit the beach.

It took Yolandi two additional seconds to realize that the reason for the nice breeze in the room was because the air conditioning was turned on. The rest of her mansion, including her home office, was still relying on open windows and fans to keep the flow of air going. It was only _this_ room that appeared to be spared from the heatwave outside. It was only in _this_ room that a cool breeze could be felt.

"What… how…"

"My husband's a genius."

"And a genius knows how to please his wife," Tony added with a wink as he rounded Yolandi's standing form to join Pepper in the small living area of the guestroom. The moment Tony approached the couch, Pepper lifted her legs to allow Tony to sit where her feet had been resting just seconds ago. Tony then placed her feet on his lap, idly massaging them while he waited for Yolandi to uproot herself from her spot. It took the woman five more precious seconds for her brain to connect with her mouth, and for her legs to take her to the opposite couch.

"How is the A/C on? I distinctly remember telling you we're on an energy ban."

"Actually, what I remember you saying is that you wanted to raise _awareness to reducing the impact of non-renewable fuel on the planet_."

"And that means not wasting fossil-fueled energy sources on something as trivial as climate-controlled homes."

Pepper smiled. "Which is _why_ Tony retrofitted an arc reactor to turn on the A/C here. I mean, you do know that Stark Industries is the pioneer and leader in clean energy sources, right? That's why your company invested in ours, after all."

"Arc reactor? What the _hell_ is an arc reactor?" Yolandi shook her head from side to side. She knew that Stark Industries _was_ working on ways to pull the plug on fossil fuels, but the details of how exactly they were achieving said feat were still a company secret. She had hoped that during this encounter, she could be given the opportunity to pull the information out of Stark himself. But her efforts so far had been in vain. And as long as Pepper Potts had Tony Stark's undivided attention, it would be impossible to get the data she wanted to obtain.

"A proprietary invention of Stark Industries, of course," Pepper replied.

"And you just _happen_ to have one in your bag?"

"Have one with me at all times, just in case," Tony shrugged. "And this is a case where the _just in case_ applies."

"I don't know how I feel about you playing electrician in my home, Stark. Especially without my consent."

"I'll take a wild guess and say that you feel as shitty as we felt when you gave away our hotel room… without _our_ consent."

Yolandi's lips instantly thinned at Tony's reply. Her eyes shone with deep, raging rivers of uncontrolled ire at the way the couple exchanged an obvious conspiratorial glance. Her fists shook on her lap when Tony smiled and winked at the redhead, acting as if they were alone or as if her presence in the room did not count. Despite her current silence and lack of motion, Yolandi Venter was on the verge of losing her cool façade. She was clinging to her sanity by the tips of her fingernails.

But then, as quickly as the anger had risen within her, she then took a deep breath. And _smiled_.

"Turnabout and all that," Yolandi finally offered, sending shivers down Tony's spine at the way the woman suddenly bounced back. "So, why don't we get this meeting started, huh?"

xxxXXXxxx

They waited thirty seconds after closing the door to their room before letting go of a loud and long sigh of relief; feeling some of the pressure of acting and entertaining being lifted from their backs. They had made it through the first major obstacle of this business stop. Perhaps not coming out completely unscathed, and they were yet to claim absolute victory of the match, but they _had_ won this round.

Pepper closed her eyes and covered her feverish face with her cold hands. With Yolandi gone for now, the escalating headache that had been fiercely pounding her senses since arriving at Pretoria became her primary concern once again. She was not sure how she had managed to keep a straight face and a smile throughout the entire meeting, especially when Yolandi had continued to throw jabs at her, but she had endured. They both had. And now it was time to rest and recover before round two took flight.

The coldness in the room had certainly helped with the scorching sensations on her skin, but she and Tony knew that she would need medical attention as soon as they could sneak out. Both the inventor and the redhead refused to give Yolandi the pleasure of knowing Pepper was still very much in pain and dehydrated, so they had resorted to this plan: make her think that everything was OK with them. That her blatant attempts at coming between them were actually making them be closer than before. That there was nothing the woman could do to tarnish their marriage. That Tony Stark and Pepper Potts were in on it for the long haul.

It had not taken much to teach a lesson or two to the woman, but they were also painfully aware that while they had been not-so-subtly setting boundaries and expectations for her, they had also simultaneously been poking the dragon with a rather pointy and rusted stick. Yolandi gave as hard she got. It was just a matter of time before she found a way to even out the playing field.

Once Tony was certain that Yolandi was not going to come back into their room, he locked the door and walked towards the mini-fridge. From it, he took out the bag of ice that he had placed inside earlier for this very moment, and then joined Pepper by the couch she was still resting on.

"Here," Tony placed the bag on Pepper's head and then knelt by the side of the couch.

"Thanks."

She gave him a small, grateful smile and then searched for his hand without opening her eyes. Tony immediately knew what she was doing and linked his fingers with hers, shortly before bringing them to his face to brush them with his lips. It hurt him like hell to see her coming down from the charade she had put herself through to get back at their host. Yet, it hurt him more that she was doing this for him.

He rested his forehead on her belly, his hand never letting go of hers; their grip never slacking from either side. He relished in the rising and falling of her abdomen with every breath she took. He replayed in his mind the way she had let him bathe her, forgoing any sense of privacy to allow him to tend to her fragile state. The laughter Yolandi had heard while they had started their shower was genuine, although it had not been a product of whatever the investor had surely concocted in her mind. In truth, Tony and Pepper had laughed because the look on the woman's face had been priceless… and because they had bonked heads while trying to balance themselves while outside the shower stall.

There had been nothing romantic or sensual about sharing a shower – their underwear had remained on the entire time. But the fact that she had let herself be cared for by him, in such an intimate way, had rattled him to his very core. He had been extremely gentle with her, ensuring as much as he could that the cold water helped placate some of the discomfort she felt. It had been refreshing and momentarily soothing, she would not deny it, but it had not been an instant cure to what she was suffering. She needed to rest in a cold place. She needed to drink plenty of fluids, preferably some that helped her regain her electrolytes. But above all, she needed to be protected and sent away from whatever else Yolandi Venter had in mind for her.

They both remained silent for several minutes, Tony dreading the reaction that Pepper would probably have at his next words. He knew that she would say that she was fine. That they did not need to deviate from their plans to survive the weekend in Pretoria. That he was being paranoid. Silly. Overprotective. But she also knew that he would always be all of those things when it came to her.

The conversation was not going to be pretty, but it had to be had.

"Pep?"

"Mmhh?"

"I don't… I don't think this is worth the trouble."

He felt the muscles on her stomach tense for a brief instant, but he then felt her relax. Of course she knew what he was thinking! And of course she would pretend that she did not.

"What's not worth the trouble?"

"This," he squeezed her hand and heard her remove the bag from her head, but he did not look up. "You. Like this. Yolandi's money's not worth you being in pain."

He had expected her to immediately deny his claim. To stand up and physically push him away from her as a means to tell him that the issue was not up for discussion. He even expected her to groan and change the subject, but she did neither of those things. Instead, she ran her hand through his hair, massaging him into a state of relaxation before speaking again.

"You're probably right," she exhaled. "Actually, I know you're right. If we can get everyone else on board, convince them to increase their contributions to the Foundation, we might be able to split the difference and be close to breaking even."

"Your accounting degree is cheering for us right now."

"I'm sure," Pepper smiled. "Just like your engineering one is doing a happy dance for getting this room to be cold."

He chuckled at her retort, the smile bringing true relief to his soul, but he then realized that, even though she had just agreed with him, she was yet to say that she was on board with her own suggestion.

The recognition of this made him sigh. "But?"

"But…" Pepper inhaled deeply. "But it wouldn't teach Yolandi a lesson. It wouldn't make it clear that she can't just harm people to get her way. It'd also give her the impression that she can bully herself into someone's marriage – no matter how real or fake it is."

Tony swallowed hard, thinking back to the conversation that he and Happy had had over the phone the night before. The impact of what Happy had warned him about regarding his marriage had just increased tenfold by Yolandi's actions. The need for making a choice had just been sent to the extreme. However, Pepper was in no condition to make an informed decision at the moment. She was tired and ill. She was being tested by the devil that was Yolandi Venter. Telling her right now about the reason for Happy's phone call would not result in forming a logical solution to their situation. It would only tip the scales towards what he would love to happen between them rather than what she would prefer to take place.

Damn Happy Hogan and his ill-timed communication! And damn Tony Stark's sense of self-righteousness, too. Tony thought that he knew what was best for her. And what was best for her was for her _not_ to know that she had to make a major decision about their marriage just yet.

"Maybe you're right, Pep. But I still don't think that it's up to us to teach her a life lesson. And not at your expense. The market will eventually do that for her. Other people will eventually do that for her. Or she'll do it herself. She'll mess up at some point. She'll get cocky and overconfident and she'll slip. She will fuck up. Today. Or Tomorrow. Or in a year or ten. People like that – like her – they tend to dig their own graves. I mean, I'd be one to know that for sure. I'm still trying to dig my ass out of my own."

At that, Pepper finally sat up, forcing Tony to pull his head way from her belly and lock eyes with her. She leaned forward to caress the side of his face, giving him that look of bottomless admiration that he many times did not believe he deserved to receive from her. She ran her fingertips down his cheek a few times, her eyes following their path every instance. She then returned her gaze to his, gave him a real smile, and then lightly shook her head at him, as if the gesture itself was proof enough that he was wrong.

"You're not in a grave, Tony. You're not. You're nothing like her. You never were. You… you'd always been a good man."

Tony scoffed. "Tell that to Charles Spencer."

Pepper frowned. "Who?"

"Charles…" he shook his head. "You don't know him. I didn't either. Nobody will."

Knowing that there was so much more than what he was letting on, Pepper pulled her legs away from the rest of the couch so that he could join her. He eyed the space warily, stealing a glance at her as if to ask permission he did not need, and she further cemented granting it by patting on it twice. Tony stood up, joined her on the couch, and then cleared his throat before speaking again.

"He was one of the victims in Sokovia. A kid. Recent college grad. He was volunteering to build affordable homes. He died during the fight against Ultron. He died because of me."

"Tony–"

"I killed him. I killed him and a whole lot of other innocent people like him that day. I've killed more people than I've helped save."

"That's not true."

"It is. Before I became Iron Man, I killed a lot of people as a weapons developer. Afterwards, I killed them while claiming I was helping them live. When I made Ultron, I thought I was doing everyone a favor. That I was doing the right thing for everyone. That my actions, while drastic, would bring about world peace. I thought that… that if I… that if we… and the Accords…"

When Tony failed to speak again, Pepper pulled his head towards her so that it rested on her chest. He closed his eyes and, against everything he knew he should not be doing, he circled her waist with his arms, welcoming attention and comfort he did not believe he deserved. But he held onto it as if his life depended on it. As if his next breath would not happen if Pepper lost faith in him and no longer wanted to be around him anymore.

This was it. If he was ever to confess to her how his actions had been driven by his need to protect her and be with her forever, this was the time to do so.

"I did it for the world… but I mostly did it for you. Everything I've done. Every decision I've made since I realized I loved you, has been for you. That's why I'm just like Yolandi. Because I'm as selfish as her. So selfish that I put the world at risk just to be with you."

Pepper did not respond, but she also did not push him away. Instead, she rested her chin against the top of his head and started running her fingers through his hair.

"You once asked me, right before we separated, why I created Ultron. Do you remember that?"

"Yes."

"And, do you remember what I said?"

"You said: _whoops_."

"Yeah," his chuckle was bittersweet. "But the truth is that I built it so that we didn't have to fight anymore. A machine is perfect. Or, that's what I'd thought. It doesn't have stupid feelings to trip over. It can make the right call. Every time. Put forward the logical decisions, with the lowest amount of human loss. It could probably predict and prevent rather than fix and destroy. But above all that, I thought, that if someone else I could trust could fight my fights, then the Avengers would no longer be needed. And then, I could stay home. With you. Marry you. Spend my life with you. Start a family with you. Grow and die old…"

Pepper swallowed hard, remembering one of the misunderstandings that had led her to believe that Tony would have been relieved by the breakup.

 _Pepper was biting her thumbnail, her right foot tapping impatiently on the floor, while Tony paced back and forth behind her. She had a line-up of five pregnancy tests on the bathroom counter, all a few seconds away from showing the final results. She had not meant for Tony to find out that she suspected she was pregnant, but he had grabbed the bag of tests from the nightstand when he had come home earlier today, thinking it held something kinky for her to wear._

 _Seeing the tests had instantly killed his libido. And it would probably stay that way for a few days._

" _How much longer?" Tony asked even though his phone was keeping track of the time._

" _Ten seconds, probably," Pepper replied, unwilling to look at his face when the timer rang._

" _Ten seconds. OK. Just… ten seconds. That's not long."_

 _In a dire situation, ten seconds could be the difference between being able to breath another day or be put underground. Ten seconds could be precious to some people. But for them, right now, ten seconds were an entire lifetime… of caring for a brand-new life._

 _DING!_

 _From the corner of her eye, Pepper noticed that Tony held his breath and snapped his eyes shut after turning off the alarm. This was all she needed to see to know that he was not going to read the tests himself until she told him what they said. The burden of finding out the truth fell on her, and she was not sure if she was ready herself to face it all._

 _Nevertheless, she walked closer to the sticks, knowing what she was looking for without having to look at the box of instructions one more time. She had taken this test before, just a week ago, and she knew what the big, fat plus sign meant for them._

 _Pepper gulped and slowly stared at each and every one of those sticks once. Twice. Thrice. Five times. And as she was about to start a sixth time, Tony's calling of her name behind her reminded her that she was not the only one waiting for an answer._

" _Negative."_

 _Tony's eyes snapped open. "What?"_

" _They're all negative."_

" _What?" Tony rushed toward her. "Are… are you sure?"_

" _Yeah," she side-eyed him. "False alarm."_

" _Oh… oh, damn! Oh… damn! Phew! That's a disaster that was avoided. Major mistake undone! I need to double-up next time. Or triple-up. Is that even a thing? PHEWWW!"_

 _His hands went to his face as he exhaled calming breaths through his fingers, so he was not able to see Pepper's distraught look – a look of betrayal and hurt. He was not able to see the tears in her eyes before she wiped them away with the back of her hands. Or the way her chin trembled as she held back a sob. Tony Stark was still Tony Stark. And Tony Stark wanted nothing to do with babies at all._

 _His stance on children became perfectly clear to the redhead. And it made her realize she needed to find out what was hers._

"For a while there," Pepper began, "You didn't look like you wanted kids."

"Because of the scare?" Tony scoffed. "Yeah. I didn't handle that well, now did I? I just… the possibility of you being pregnant… it-it just reminded me of how fucked-up I am and how I would probably be a fucked-up father too, like mine. I mean, he had his good intentions and all, but he didn't do a good job of showing them. And that reminded me that a fucked-up father was probably also a fucked-up husband. And I didn't want you to go through with that. I didn't want to be the reason why you regretted marrying someone and having kids. But then…"

Pepper thought that he was going to leave the rest unsaid. Implied. Up to her imagination to fill in the blanks. But he instead pulled away from her, held her hands in his, and then locked his gaze onto their limbs while he spoke.

"After Ultron, I got over that. The being scared of starting a family with you. And when I got over that, I also realized that having kids would be a mistake. I mean, what was I thinking, wanting us to bring babies into the mix? I'm a fucking superhero. Might as well put a bullseye on my offspring's foreheads and hand them to my enemies on a silver platter, right? Killian, he… he almost took you away from me. When I thought he did, it broke me…"

Tony shuddered, took a moment to collect his next thoughts, and then locked eyes with the redhead.

"The thought of it happening to my entire family… knowing you and the kids were targeted by some lunatic because of me… I couldn't do it. I just couldn't. I thought… God, I thought so many things! I thought the Accords would make it easier. I thought the Accords would keep me from killing other kids, including my own. I thought I was out of the woods. I thought we could make it work… I thought you thought it too…"

His eyes fell then, straight back to their hands.

"But then you ended it. Called me out on my hypocrisy. My bullshit. You got tired of my indecision and waiting. You got tired of what I was tired of about myself. Except, you did it before me. You… you put up with it without having to. And I pushed you over the edge."

Slowly, Tony pulled his hands away from hers and stood up from the couch, his back to her. He gave a long, hard look at the room, at the aftermath of their ruse with Yolandi Venter, and then sighed.

"And now, you're here. Doing more things for me. For everyone else. While putting yourself in danger. Doing what I did. And I finally see how hard that must've been for you. Watching me put on that suit and take off on you. Seeing a city almost fall on me…"

"And you're gonna watch me go through with it, too. Just like I did," Pepper said with determination in her voice. "And not for payback either. But because you did things for me out of love. Many things. Dangerous things. Far more dangerous things than dealing with a little heatstroke or taming a beast in high heels. Just like you just said. You did it for me. And I will do things for you, too. Whatever they are. Because that's what we do."

Tony closed his eyes and hung his head, willing her words to go away. He did not want her to do these things for him. He just wanted her to be safe and protected and cocooned in bubble wrap inside an Vibranium vault. It was not too much to ask of her, right? He would even make sure the damn vault had A/C…

"It's just a couple of days. It's not the end of the world. She just one woman. And I kicked Aldrich Killian's ass, remember?" he heard her say as she wrapped her arms around his torso from behind him, her cheek pressed against his back.

 _While high on Extremis_ , Tony wanted to add, but he knew that this was not the point she was trying to make, so he swallowed it down. Pepper _was_ strong and resourceful, in her own right. Perhaps not with superpowers or a high-tech armor, but she had her plays. Her set of aces up her sleeve. A way with words and with people that allowed her to be as influential as she already was. Yolandi Venter was smart. But she was also just a sad woman looking for attention. Someone who was trying to prove herself and her worth by taking away from others what she could not have. Just like Christine Everhart. Or any other reporter or business competitor that had tried to tarnish the ginger's reputation by attempting to catch her unsuspected or in a lie.

When Tony did not say anything else and remained motionless, Pepper slowly circled him so that she could stand in front of him, her arms now around his waist. She tilted her head down and to the side, angling it so that he could tell that she was trying to make eye-contact with his crestfallen form. It took Tony a few seconds or so, but he finally gathered enough courage to admire those bright blue eyes of hers. She gave him a one-sided smirk with a strange twinkle in her eyes – one that became the only warning for him before she closed the distance between them to press her lips against his.

Tony was shocked by the move, not at all having expected it unless they were putting on a show for the masses when outside. He hesitated longer than anticipated in responding, which took Pepper slightly aback. Yet, she instantly pushed all doubts aside and intensified the kiss by lightly biting on his lower lip; telling him that she wanted this and that it was OK to kiss back. It was all it took for Tony to finally catch up with the situation and give back as much as he received, tangling his fingers in her hair in the process and tilting her head back. Moaning loudly when she invited his tongue into her mouth. Tasting the flavor of the lemonade she had sipped earlier on. It was all so real and so perfect. So familiar and calming, and yet so new and exhilarating at the same time.

Her kisses were firm and her pose welcoming and relaxed, yet she felt a little wobbly as well. It was then that he realized that she was probably relying on his strength to remain standing, probably still feeling weak and dizzy as fuck. He considered ways to ease her efforts, but none of them were appropriate right now: taking her to their bed and laying down on her; taking two steps back and have her straddle him on the couch; lifting her in the air so that her legs embraced him and then push her against the wall. All these methods would resolve the wobbly issue, but they would also yield a shitload of other worse issues on their own.

Thankfully for him, he did not have to continue wondering what to do next. Pepper made the choice for him. For them.

She slowed down the kiss to a stop. Pulled away from his face so that her forehead rested on his chin. Inhaled and exhaled deeply while her hands cradled his head. And then, once her breathing returned to normal, she uttered a single phrase.

"Thank you."

Tony was taken aback. "What, uhm… what for?"

"For everything. I didn't… I never realized how much you did for me. And I never got to thank you for all of it. I just did. I hope."

"Oh," Tony swallowed hard. "I… well… uhm… was that… was that, like, one big thank you, or the first thank you of many?"

Pepper's chuckle was followed by one of his, her head slightly shaking from side to side.

"Tony–"

"I know. I know," he conceded. "But you know me. Couldn't help myself there, Pep."

"I know," she admitted, her palms landing on his bare chest, reminding her that he was half-naked, the thought almost sobering her.

Almost.

"Take a nap before we have to deal with the next meeting with the Minion from Hell?" she asked, hoping a change of subject would help her keep it in her pants.

"Only if you promise that the next time we write her correspondence, that you'll address her just like that."

Pepper pulled away from him to laugh aloud, bringing out a satisfied smile of his own.

"You know what?" she began as she pulled her with him towards the bed. "It might just be worth the shit storm."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi, all! I'll stop making promises of when I can update, because I'm starting to think my promises are tempting Satan to make a liar out of me (two weeks ago, my mom tried to commit suicide. Then, this week, my husband got into a car accident). Everything is better now – or as much as it can get after that. I hope this chapter and the little fluff we got in here makes up for the long-ass wait and slow update time. I re-wrote this chapter at least ten times and I'm still not happy with how it turned out, but I hope you enjoyed it. I moved a scene to the next chapter (the one where Happy tells Tony something about the marriage), and the ending here took a different turn than expected. I was going to show more of this crazy-ass woman and her antics, but realized she's not worth the trouble. We all know how cunning our couple is, and I think it's safe to assume that they made her look like a fool. Thanks again to all of you for continued support in whatever ways call your heart (favorite, follows and/or reviews). It's the one encouragement that can make shitty real life feel less suffocating and rough. Until next time, my Faithful Readers!


	8. Chapter 7: Dubai

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Thank you for the favorite/follow:** _abrilmillet, Northwestern,_ _Noiruna,_ _and alexhanhk188._

 **MarieLecter: "You're the best wife I've ever had." "I'm the only wife you've ever had" I LOOOOOOVE IT! it's just great! Can't wait for the next chap!** – Those dorks are just too cute, aren't they?

 **Pepperonylove: I am always happy whenever I see you have an update. Yey! Thanks for another great chapter. I have a new most hated character- Yolandi. I wanted to pull her hair and scratch her face while I was reading the part from the shuttle to the guest room. Hahaha. Anyway,hats off again my dear. Hope we could have more kisses like that. Hahaha. But I hope all is well with you and your family. Keep writing! You make a lot of Pepperony fans out there happy. :)** – LOL! I think everyone's gonna hate Yolandi even more here. It seems we can't rid ourselves of her. She popped here out of nowhere, even for me. And we _will_ get some steamy scenes soon. I'll make sure they appeal to our Pepperony hearts :)

 **kate: Lovely chapter as always! I love that they're opening up and ahh kissing each other now! :) don't push yourself to update it, I hope your husband and mom are ok. X** – Hi! Opening up is definitely the theme of the story. I mean, I also aim for getting them back together, but I see it happening through honesty and communication, little by little. Something I don't think we had in the MCU. Or at least not as much as we would've liked. My mom is doing a lot better (she's taking her meds and going to therapy). And my hubby is doing great. Thank you so much for your concern ^_^

 **Stark13: Really loved this chapter, still so HAPPY when I see a new update ! Can't wait to read more. This chapter was really interesting with the flashback. Read you soon ; )** – Another flashback here for us. This was supposed to go in the previous chapter, but Yolandi's actions got away from me. We have two captivating locations coming up. I think you're gonna love Moscow :D

 **Guest: :Your story is really interesting. I never write a review but your story urge me to so you can update soon. :)** – YAY! I AM SO FLATTERED! Hope you're still interested. Here's the new chappie for you.

 **ptitemel: What an awesome story! I think my heart is breaking for them THEY ARE SO IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER DAMMIT! Seriously if Marvel doesn't start to see the light I will light something on fire! Probably them lol** – I WILL HELP YOU LIGHT IT! AND HOLD THEM DOWN XDDDD

 **missblack188: I just freakin love this, it show how much pepper means to tony, especially during the civil war and it just added the depth to their relationship, and thats why i love pepperoni so much. They always meant so much more to each other. Also big fan of your writing, look forward about the new chapter~** \- They do! They're the example of 'relationship goals' for sure. Thank you so much for your review and for taking the time to read this slowly-updating story :D Think you're gonna like this one, too ^_^

 **A/N:** I can't thank you all enough for your get-well wishes, good vibes and prayers. Every single one of you, in your own way, has kept me from throwing in the towel on writing. I thought the worst thing in the world for a fanfic writer was a flame or a scathing review. And I've gotten those. I was wrong. The worst thing that can ever happen is not only losing your muse, but seeing fanfic writing as an obligation and a chore. Apparently, depression and hormonal imbalances can fuck you up like that. But we're getting better, a tiny bit at a time :D

Special thanks to _dallasroarke_ who hit me up on tumblr. Had a great chat!

BTW, apparently, there are some spoilers with Spider-Man: Homecoming – PLEASE DO NOT SHARE THEM WITH ME! I wanna remain spoiler-free :) Thanks, y'all! Hope you love this ^_^

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Dubai**

 _The incessant buzzing of his phone woke him up. He opened one eye and aimed its unfocused gaze towards his nightstand to see the device's screen light up as it danced on the table. The big block numbers on the phone told him that it was just shortly after midnight and the thought of losing sleep made him groan. They still had a few hours until they reached Pretoria, and God knew he and Pepper needed the rest. Their last full day in London had been taxing for them, both physically, mentally and emotionally, even if it had been the good kind of taxing. The last thing he wanted was to wake up the slumbering redhead next to him. Second to that, he did not want to get up from the bed himself._

 _Tony seriously considered turning off his phone and getting back to sleep. His long and heartfelt talk with Jarvis was still fresh in his mind. The kinks in his neck were still present after the tense yet successful meeting with Jack Dobson. And he was sure as hell that Pepper was still exhausted from the empowering talk she had had with Melanie. All in all, their London stop had gone well, which made him wonder and fear that the other shoe was about to drop. Especially when he remembered who their next person to visit was._

 _Maybe, if he did not answer the phone and just went back to sleep, nothing bad would happen to either of them. Maybe, if he just threw the phone out the plane, all bad luck would go along with it._

 _Nevertheless, when the phone buzzed yet again, this time with an incoming phone call, and he read that it was Happy Hogan who was trying to reach him, Tony knew he had to get up and tend to the matter at hand. Happy was well aware of the time zone difference between New York and their current location, which made the man's insistence to find him that much more concerning for him. This had to be something important – important enough to leave several voicemails, send dozens of text messages and e-mails, and attempt many missed calls._

 _Silencing the buzzing phone, Tony looked towards his right to make sure Pepper remained undisturbed. When it was clear to him that she was still out like a light, he then slowly rolled out of bed and picked up his cell phone from the nightstand. For good measure, he also grabbed Pepper's phone from her side and then silently made his way out of their private room at the back of the Stark jet. He tiptoed into the main cabin area, picked up his wireless receiver, and then connected to the incoming call._

 _"Someone better be dying," Tony whispered into the receiver but then immediately regretted his words when images of Rhodey came to mind. He knew that his condition was no longer life-threatening, but the callousness of his greeting still made him flinch. "Or not," the inventor added after a pause._

xxxXXXxxx

If Tony and Pepper were not living this moment; seeing it with their own eyes and hearing it with their very own ears, they would have not believed it to be true. Not after the realities of their trip. Not after barely escaping the claws of each investor they had seen since leaving Venice. Not after adding yet another problem to their already rupturing baggage of issues that threatened to spill all over the place.

But it was.

It _was_ true.

It was oh, so very true.

Abd al Jabbar Sayegh, their investor in Dubai, was a kind and sweet, young man. One who had not forced them to spend their visit at his place. One that had not tried to belittle either of them or their genders as-a-whole. One that was not cheating on his wife. One that was not trying to get into either of their pants. One that had been nothing but present, on time, accommodating, polite, and professional to a fault, that the couple had had to pinch each other on their arms to make sure that they were not both caught in a Twilight Zone-induced alternate reality.

Had Yolandi Venter invented a time machine AND a virtual reality device? Were they trapped in it right now while Yolandi feasted on their innards in revenge for the humiliation they had put her through? Would they never see the real world again? For God's sake, they hoped not.

Tony knew his mind was exaggerating with said ideas, but he also felt incredibly justified in his hyperbolic musings. He could only assume Pepper had similar thoughts, especially after what Yolandi had tried to do to him to get what she had wanted from Tony Stark. The memories of Yolandi's final trap on their last night in Pretoria sent a shiver down his spine. At the very least, it had gotten them _twice_ the investment she had originally committed to, all in exchange for them keeping their mouths shut about it all to their lawyers and the press.

Nevertheless, and despite the Law of Averages possibly having a hand in this, the situation before them seemed too good to be true. How could they not be expected to be wary of what they had just heard Abd say? How could they just accept, smile, shake hands and be on their merry way? It was extremely possible that this was just the tip of the iceberg. It was very possible that this was all just a trick.

Then again, not everyone was out to get them. Not everyone could be the source of all evil in the world.

Perhaps, it was simply the fact that Abd was new to the role – he had just inherited from his late father, earlier in the year – and this reality kept the businessman from being ruthless just yet. Or maybe, a more plausible reason, it was just in his nature to be open-minded and gentle. The Abbiati were nice people too, and perhaps the younger Starks were just due to encounter a normal investor after the trio of human kidney stones they had mingled with in the past few weeks. This was the first time that Pepper and Tony met their new investor, after all. They simply had not known what to expect from the man.

"Was it something I said?" Abd asked with a hint of worry. This was, after all, his first major business deal. He had not been expecting to send into utter silence the most powerful couple in the business world.

"Uhm, no, of course not," Pepper was the first one to react and put a friendly smile on her face. "We just… well… negotiations involving the magnitude of your investment tend to be a little more… lengthy than this."

"Oh, I see," Abd visibly relaxed. "I don't know what to say to convince you that this is all there is to it – that I can sign the documents right now, other than saying that my father trusted and respected Mr. Stark. And I trust my father knew who to trust."

"Fair enough," Tony said after clearing his throat. "But, even so, I'd… we'd both, Pepper and I, would feel more comfortable if you took the paperwork with you and let your lawyers give it a look. We have two more days here, anyway. Not in a hurry to leave, either. We've got nothing to hide and we want to make sure that you are one-hundred percent happy with what you're about to commit to."

Abd swallowed hard and then looked slightly embarrassed. "Are you kindly letting me know that I may be committing a rookie mistake by just blindly agreeing to what you offer?"

"Of course not," Pepper began, "We just want to extend the same courtesy to you that our investors have extended to us: a fair chance to see if this agreement aligns with your goals. We wouldn't feel worthy of your contribution if we're not transparent about what we'd like to do with your funds."

"Besides," Tony interjected, "Your father was excellent at seeing beyond what I could when it came to agreements like these. He always found something we could do better than what was already set up. I heard that the apple didn't fall far from the tree."

Abd smiled brightly at them before giving them a sharp nod.

"I appreciate your feedback. I shall return these documents to you in two days' time."

"That sounds great," Tony smiled. "Pepper and I greatly appreciate that."

After another handshake and a promise to meet again in forty-eight ours, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts were left with plenty of time on their hands

xxxXXXxxx

" _ **No one's dying,"**_ _Happy immediately clarified. "_ _ **But someone's gonna get in big trouble if you don't fucking answer your phone after a third try!"**_

 _"Been busy," Tony defended himself. "And asleep. Do you have any idea what time it is?"_

 _ **"Time for you to answer your phone?"**_

 _"Clearly," Tony rolled his eyes. "What's the matter, Hap? What's so urgent you couldn't wait until the sun had risen and shone 'round these parts?"_

 _ **"Your marriage is fake."**_

 _Before he could control himself, Tony smacked his face with his left hand._

 _"Are you serious?_ _ **This**_ _is what you're calling about? I already know my marriage to Pepper is a sham. Did you just figure that out?"_

 _ **"No, dumbass,"**_ _Happy's tone of voice showed no remorse for the insult he had just spat at his former immediate boss. "_ _ **The paperwork fell through. Your fake marriage is really fake. Illegal. We need a signature from Pepper to make it legit."**_

 _Oh._ _ **That**_ _was what he had meant._

 _"Shit!" Tony looked over his shoulder to make sure the door to the bedroom was still closed. "How? How did this happen? I thought you had it covered?"_

 _ **"I thought I did, too. But then I got a letter from the county saying that one of the documents had already expired by the time of filing. We need a recently dated signature of hers on it to make sure the marriage stands."**_

 _"I see," Tony rubbed his chin. "Who else knows? Has the word gotten out?"_

 _ **"No. Have it under control for now. They gave me an extension after I explained that you two are traveling the world. A few weeks extension, actually. But I don't think we should wait that long to fix this. I trust my buddy there, but you never know who might spill the beans on you."**_

 _Tony bit back a groan, the truth in Happy's words making him want to hurl. This information, in the wrong hands, could undo all of the work they had completed so far; cause even more damage than the news of their fake secret wedding coming out could have ever hope to make. Particularly so since many people had been happy and quite pleased with the development. It appeared to be easily solvable, though. Just one signature on a piece of paper and it would all be behind them again. He was sure Pepper would sign the paper, too, without question, as she wanted to make this trip work as much as he did._

 _Then again…_

xxxXXXxxx

The view from the top of the Burj Khalifa was breathtaking. Right at the 148th level of the tallest structure in the world, even the most stoic person on the planet would be visibly overwhelmed by the view of Dubai and beyond from the observatory deck of the luxurious hotel. The closest Pepper Potts had been to experiencing something similar were her constant treks on the Stark jet. The closest Tony Stark had been to experiencing this feeling of insignificance in comparison to the world around him had been when going through the wormhole.

Tony felt a shiver run down his spine at the haunting memory, but he pushed it away by surrounding Pepper's waist from behind. They were both standing by one of the many glass walls, silently admiring the view from the top, having found themselves with nothing else to do with their time. Abd had been true to his word and had not required further face-to-face meetings with the couple until his final decision was made in two days, so the duo was happy to enjoy the unexpected break for all it was worth.

A few people had recognized them upon arrival, reminding them of the part they had to play, and they had immediately fallen into their roles. It was so much easier to get into gear when their investors were neither obnoxious nor out to get them. It was almost second-nature to act as if they were a married couple in love, if just for the fact that the love was still there; burning brightly and growing larger and stronger with every breath that passed through their lips. Love had never been the issue between them. It was all the other shit that pushed against them that had been to blame. Like the fact that their fake marriage was also now an illegal marriage that would probably be annulled in a few weeks' time.

Remembering his conversation with Happy made the inventor's body tense up.

"I can hear you thinking, Tony," Pepper pressed the back of her head against his chest, prompting him to rest his chin atop of it to compensate for the closeness. "Your super genius brainwaves are gonna break this glass."

"I'm not thinking."

Pepper scoffed. "Tony Stark, _not_ thinking? Then I'm not Pepper Potts."

"You're not?" Tony feigned surprise, his head tilting to the side so that he could stare at her profile. "Then who is this smart and gorgeous lady I have in my arms?"

Pepper shook her head from side to side, smirking at his words and feeling slightly embarrassed by his compliments.

"I'm serious, Tony," she turned in place and grabbed the lapels of his blazer to pull him closer to her. "What's got you all worked up?"

He closed his eyes briefly, inhaling and exhaling loudly through his nose before he partly opened his orbs again. He stole quick glances to their sides a couple of times to make sure no one was paying too much attention to them. Then, as he felt confident that people were giving them their space due to the obvious PDA they were engaging in, Tony pressed a soft kiss to her forehead before pressing them against each other.

"I wanna tell you, but how about you ask me again later, when we're alone?"

"What?" Pepper pulled away from his face to lock eyes with him, worry spilling from every pore.

"It's nothing bad, I promise. Just… you never know who is listening in. Did you know paparazzi now hire lip-readers?"

"They do?"

"Yup."

"Well, that's… shitty of them."

The random curse word made Tony laugh aloud.

"I know. Anything for a good story."

"Or a bad one made worse," the redhead sighed.

"Yeah. I can almost hear the headlines for the pictures of us here right now: _Exclusive pictures of Tony Stark cheating on Pepper Potts_."

Pepper's head snapped back. "What? How? I'm _right_ here!"

"But you said you weren't Pepper Potts."

"When did I…"

Pepper groaned when she realized what he had just done and then playfully smacked him on the chest. "Whatever, Tony."

"What?" he chuckled and tightened his grip around her waist. "I'm bored, all right? What do you expect me to do with free time on my hands?"

"I don't know… normal stuff?"

"This _is_ my normal, Pepper."

"Don't I know that," the ginger jested, unable to contain the smile that graced her face.

"Speaking of normal," Tony began, "I heard they have an Olympic-sized ice rink around here. Wanna go look like idiots?"

"You mean: _your_ normal?"

"Ouch!" Tony moved his right hand to land atop his heart, pinning hers between his chest and his hand. "I guess the honeymoon period is over. Right in the feels, Potts. Is this what domestic violence feels like?"

Pepper shook her head and rolled her eyes at Tony's dramatic display.

"Fine. Would me toppling over in front of dozens of people take your mind off whatever it is that has you thinking too hard?"

"Oh, come on! You don't have to go to the extreme," Tony shrugged. "Toppling over onto something hard of mine can also do the trick."

This time, it took Pepper nearly five seconds to catch Tony's lewd meaning. Once she did, her jaw dropped and she pushed him away with both hands.

"Jesus, Tony! The lip-readers are gonna have a field day with that!"

"Or Playboy Magazine."

"Oh, God!"

"Hey! I'm getting a preview!"

"Tony!"

"That's _two_ previews!"

Pepper covered her face with her hands, mortified by his rather public, unashamed and over-the-top flirting, but then began laughing along with him when memories of similar fun times came to her mind. A second later, Pepper fanned her flushed face with her hands, slightly embarrassed by her noticeable thoughts, which incited the inventor to meekly approach her space one more time, sudden regret at his actions written all over his demeanor. Yes, they were friends and they were pretending to be married, but there was no need for practically disrespecting her like that.

"Sorry, Pep," he gave her an apologetic smile, hoping she would understand that he was not intending to reduce her or what they had to the low value or lackluster quality of just one of his many one-night stands. They had often joked around like this in the past, even before they had started dating, but he knew that his pre-Pepper conquest track record and hook-up methods left much to be desired.

She deserved better than that.

Tony sighed. "I… that was… I'm sorry."

"No," she ran a hand across her forehead, as if trying to remove invisible strands of hair from it, but he knew it to be just a nervous tick of hers that popped up when she was bracing herself for something big. "No, it's OK. I just… It's OK. I promise. It's alright. I… I actually…"

The redhead lowered her head once more, her eyes glued to his chest and then to his feet. She was not sure why she was struggling to say the next words, or why she felt compelled to put them out in the open in the first place, especially if she knew the possible consequences they could bring. Then again, maybe she wanted her words to bring other repercussions, as long as they were the ones she was hoping to get.

 _What are you doing?_ The redhead reprimanded herself at her yo-yoing thoughts, but be damned if she had not felt pulled by the spark of attraction that had been ever present between them. This was why she had left him to live on his own. This was why she had kept her distance from him until they had been forced to socialize. Because it would only take a good bantering session to make her question every decision she had made about them on her own, as if she was not already questioning herself every time she was with him.

"Pep?"

She glanced at him one more time. Once again, she was unable to hold his stare. There was nothing libidinous about the way he was watching her now – he was simply growing worried by her inability to form words or stare him in the eye. Knowing him, she believed him to probably be thinking the worst of the situation. Perhaps even already scolding himself internally for letting his mouth run faster than he could think. Yet, if he knew what was actually crossing her mind – if he became aware of the moment of weakness she was currently struggling with, he would surely push all bad thoughts aside.

"I…" Pepper bit her lower lip, chanced a look around themselves, and then returned her attention to the genius, her voice still refusing to work as expected.

"Hey," Tony's tone suddenly turned serious, his brow furrowing in response and the back of his hand briefly touching her forehead. "Are you feeling ill again? Or was it because… Did I… did I cross the line? I did, didn't I? Dammit! Dammit, Pep, I'm so sorry. I–"

"I liked it!" she finally blurted out, although it was just a barely loud whisper, wanting nothing more than to put a stop to him going further down the rabbit hole of remorse he was already in when there was no need to do so. He had done nothing wrong, and she had incited part of it, too. He did not have to feel as if he had overstepped his boundaries somehow. He had nothing to apologize for.

Thankfully for her, her reply got the exact reaction out of him that she hoped it would have, even if she was not entirely ready for the whole weight of it all.

"You… you-you, what?"

"I kinda…" Pepper shuddered and crossed her arms over her stomach, suddenly feeling extremely exposed by expressing her thoughts. "I… I-I've… _missed_ that."

The inventor's eyes widened, undoubtedly in disbelief at what he had just heard, but then returned to their normal size.

"Oh," he cleared his throat and nervously scratched at his goatee, evidently shocked by the unexpected confession of hers, and then frowned. "Wait, which _that_? The _tease talking_ that or the… _other_ that? Because, well… if it's… and… and we… Ugh! You know what? It doesn't matter which one. Whichever it is, I've missed it, too. A whole fucking lot. Pep… Pep, you know that I–"

"I know," the redhead pressed her fingertips to his mouth to halt the rest of his spiel. She knew what he had been about to say. His feelings for her and in the matter at hand were no mystery to her – or to anyone with working eyes – but an abrupt flash of light near them had suddenly reminded her that they had all eyes on them while trying to discuss a very private in a rather public place. Besides, she was not supposed to be making this harder for him. Yet, this was difficult to achieve if she could not even make it easier on herself.

"Not here. Not now," Pepper added after a pause before removing her hand from his lips. "Later, alright?"

All Tony could do was nod.

"So," the ginger busied herself straightening out his blazer and tie, mostly out of habit than of need. "Ice rink, you said?"

"Yeah," Tony smiled wide and brightly. "Ice rink."

xxxXXXxxx

 _ **"Hey, Tony? Are you still there?"**_

 _"Yeah," the billionaire slowly sat down. "Just… thinking."_

 _ **"Thinking? Thinking about what? There's no time for thinking! I did all the thinking for you. Just wake Pepper up and have her sign the paper. Send it to me and I'll stop by the courthouse first thing tomorrow."**_

 _"Just, give me a moment, please."_

 _ **"A moment for what, Tony? We need to do this now!"**_

 _"Please, Hap," Tony cleared his throat. "Just, a minute OK?"_

 _ **"OK,"**_ _Happy grudgingly accepted the request, noticing Tony's serious tone of voice, but was taken aback by it either way._

 _Tony tapped his fingers against the armrests of the seat and pressed his back firmly against it. His eyes then drifted over towards the window to his left and down at the darkness of wherever they were flying above at the moment. He knew that he was probably making Happy anxious about his apparent reluctance to quickly get on board with the plan, but the inventor could not make himself go forward with it just like that. Something just did not feel right about it at all. Something made him feel as if he was taking a choice away from Pepper that should have been hers and hers alone to make. He had already done that once when he had blurted out the news of their non-existent wedding. He did not want to do it again, if he could help it._

 _The conflict brewing within him was visible from miles away. His mind was asking him why the hell he was not already doing what Happy had told him to do, while his heart replied that this was more complex than it appeared to be. It was not as if he was trying to make a mountain out of a molehill, but he could not deny that there was a nagging voice in the back of his head, telling him to slow the fuck down and think things through, not only with his mind or just his heart, but with both._

 _The answer_ _ **should**_ _have been easy. But it was_ _ **not**_ _._

 _From the start of this trip to this very moment, too many things had happened and changed. What had promised to be hell on Earth for him and Pepper was turning out to be quite the interesting trip. They had gone from hardly being able to be in the same room without feeling uncomfortable, to happily joking about the most mundane of things while brushing their teeth. The awkwardness of sharing a large room had been replaced with an amicable sense of ease at sharing a small bed. There had no longer been any conversations about their accommodations and the boundaries they were to keep in mind while being at hotels. The process of checking into a penthouse, making themselves relaxed, and then falling asleep together was so natural by now that he did not even have to think about making a mistake._

 _It was as if they were no longer pretending to be a married couple. It was as if they actually were._

 _It had been a long time since Tony and Pepper had been carefree enough to truly and wholeheartedly enjoy their relationship. There had been a time, between their first get-together after the Stark Expo and the night Phil Coulson had shown up at Stark Tower to leave Iron Man his_ _ **homework**_ _, that things between them had been great. He had still been Iron Man and she had still been his CEO, making them both busy as heck, but there had always been the time to work on their relationship. Whether it was over the phone, via webcam, text message, or in person, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts had worked hard at helping their bond solidify and grow._

 _But then, New York had happened and everything had gone downhill after that. For a brief period of time, Tony had thought that things would get better again – that he would regain that refreshing sense of purpose in his life and what he did with his time – after he had blown up his suits. But reality had shortly thereafter pointed at his face and had laughed, leaving him even more broken than he had been after aliens had made themselves known._

 _ **"You experience things and then they're over, and you still can't explain them? Gods, aliens, other dimensions. I'm just a man in a can."**_

 _Being a man in a can had been his pride and joy once, but it had then become a major issue; no longer a solution to the woes of life. He had become Iron Man to do something with himself and with his life – to leave behind a legacy of greatness and establishment of the greater good. And then that answer had just served to take away everything good he had had in his life in the past few years. His answer had become his curse. And the curse had rubbed off on everyone he knew._

 _ **"The only reason I haven't cracked up is probably because you moved in,"**_ _he had told Pepper._ _ **"Which is great. I love you. I'm lucky. But, Honey, I can't sleep."**_

 _Ironically enough, sleep had just left him yet again, thinking about how his issues had become_ _ **theirs**_ _when he had opened up to her then, that night._

 _This was why telling Happy to fix the issue was so hard for him. Because it made him realize that the only reason why he and Pepper were having such a great time together during this trip was because he was not an Avenger right now. But then, once the trip ended, he would have to go back to do what he had signed up to do, and the true weight of their marriage and inevitable divorce would bring down the castle he had built in the sky for the past two weeks. He did not want her to yet again have to put out fires he had caused. He did not want their dream_ _ **vacation**_ _to end in more heartbreak and disaster for her._

 _However, if their marriage was not yet official and could be allowed to expire so that it became null, then he would save Pepper the trouble of a long and tedious separation and divorce. He could always spin it to the media that they had not known that their marriage paperwork had been rejected, and that they had thought, all this time, that everything was as it should have been. The situation could work in their favor, opening the possibility for ending the farce in a much easier fashion than what had been anticipated before. They could say that the trip had opened their eyes to the reality of their relationship, and that a friendship between them was much stronger than any marriage in the world._

 _That would get people talking for a little while, sure, but not as cruelly or as long as it would if they were to announce an actual divorce after only a few months of marriage. Tony Stark did not believe in karma or serendipity, but perhaps this was one of the occasions where he should take what had just been handed to him at face value instead of trying to bend reality to his beck and call._

 _The genius opened up Pepper's phone and was glad to see that Happy had not made any attempts to contact Pepper about the information he had just learned about. She did not need this aggravation or the extra weight on her shoulders. This was what he was here for, anyway – to make the burdens of the business easier on her. He had promised her, at the start of this tour, that he was going to make sure she was free of the problems imposed on them by taking this trip. He was doing a much better job of it now, and life had just handed him a golden opportunity on a silver platter that he simply could not overlook or refuse._

 _That was it: the correct answer – the right thing to do._

 _He snapped closed her phone and returned his attention to the call, shocking Happy with his final response._

xxxXXXxxx

What the hell had they been thinking?

Clearly, nothing smart. And if they had, they would have not been in this predicament.

"Honey, you know I don't plan this shit to happen to you, right?"

Pepper's response was to tighten her embrace around his shoulders and press the side of her head against his back, biting down her tongue as she did so. She was not afraid that Tony would suddenly drop her from the piggyback ride he was giving her towards their hotel room – they were almost there, anyway. But she did not trust herself not to scream in pain if he shifted her position on his back one more time. In fact, they had started this trek with him carrying her in his arms, but a quick turn at a corner had sent her injured foot flinging against the wall, earning her yet another wave of pain.

His new strategy after that accident? Loading her onto his back.

"Are you sure you don't want me to call a doctor? Or an ambulance?"

"I'm sure," she replied through her teeth, sighing in relief when he finally got the door unlocked with minimal impact to her injured left ankle.

"But, Pep, what if it _is_ broken?" Tony asked, the front door to the penthouse slamming close behind them, before taking her directly to their bed.

"It's not. It's probably just a sprain. Some ice and elevation will make it better overnight."

"Good thing we're already inside the tallest building in the world, then."

Despite the pain she was in, she laughed.

"Here," Tony said as he carefully placed her on her side of the mattress, "I'm going to get ice, water and pain killers. Don't go anywhere."

"Yeah, I think one joke was enough."

"Had to try," he added, kissed the crown of her head, and then sped out towards the hall.

Not a minute later, Tony returned to the bedroom with all the items he had gone off to find. He gave her the bottle of water and two pills, leaving her to swallow them down while he began rearranging pillows to raise her left leg. Then, with the care that someone would not expect from a man who owned a suit of armor so that he could beat people to a pulp, he placed the bag of ice over her ankle, shifting it until it cascaded on both sides of her foot. The initial weight of the ice made her flinch, but the numbness the cold then brought to her made her sigh in relief at the immediate diminishing of pain.

Once he was happy that the bag of ice was doing its job, Tony took off her other shoe and it joined its twin under the bed. Pepper had felt ridiculous falling down at the ice rink, but she had felt even worse with being carried by Tony Stark while wearing only one shoe, and him placing the other one inside his pants pocket by the heel so that neither of them had to carry it around. The entire incident had been quite the scene: Pepper momentarily losing control of her lousy ice skating attempts only to end up twisting her ankle while trying to stop herself from hitting a kid. Needless to say, camera phones had been recording the play-by-play. The whole world probably already knew about their little predicament by now. Perhaps even before they had left the rink.

"Bottle said they were pain relievers and inflammation reducers," Tony rubbed his face with his hands. "If they're not strong enough, let me know."

Pepper forced herself to smile for his sake, knowing that he was already blaming himself for something he had not caused.

"They'll be enough. I used to get this kind of injury all the time while learning how to use heels. I got this."

Tony smirked at her confidence and slid closer to her on the bed, grabbing her left hand as he did so.

"And it was worth it. You can rock them heels, Potts. Run circles around Iron Monger while wearing them, too."

"Or run away from him," Pepper recalled her mad dash away from their mechanized former business partner, barely outrunning the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that had attempted to stop the madman.

"Prick didn't know what hit him. Underestimated you, that's for sure."

"Most people do," she half shrugged.

"That's because they don't know how strong you are," he absentmindedly ran his fingers through her hair, his eyes following the path of his hand down her red tresses.

"Or they think me weaker than I am."

"Idiots," Tony scoffed before locking eyes with her, a look of pure determination on his face. "There's nothing weak about you, Pepper."

"Except my ankles," she eyed her feet with disdain, if just to look away from him and will away the knots that were forming in her stomach with the way he was staring at her. "Or my left one, at least."

Having nothing else to add on the matter, Tony rearranged his position on the bed so that he was sitting next to her, shoulder-to-shoulder, their backs against the headboard. The redhead then slowly shifted her head to rest against his right side, sealing the comfortable pose by surrounding his right arm with both of hers before speaking again.

"Do you think Abd will change his mind about the terms of the contract?"

"Hard to say. He looked pretty confident that he liked what he saw on it."

"His lawyers and accountants might change his mind."

"Maybe. But as long as he doesn't go below the minimum requirements, it should be alright."

"And even then, we're doing pretty good so far, especially with the additional donations from Yolandi," Pepper smirked.

"Yeah. That was very _generous_ of her."

"It was the least she could do after giving us barbiturates and then tying you to her bed while you slept."

"Ugh, let's not talk about that. That's the least fun I've ever had being tied up."

"Really? Was that really less fun than the time you pulled on the bed restraints so hard that you dislocated your shoulder?"

"Of course it was! First of all, I was with you… _under_ you, actually, when that happened," he smirked when he felt her nudge him. "And, second of all, I pulled on the restraint because someone was giving me an excellent… final act. Only felt the pain _after_ I was done."

Pepper closed her eyes at the memory of it. It _had_ been a great night.

"Still, I can't believe her. Drugging us. Having her house servants drag you to her room. Restraining you. I can't believe she tried to…" Pepper shook her head, unable to finish verbalizing her train of thought.

"I can," Tony sighed. "What I can't believe is that she couldn't wrap her head around the fact that I didn't like her that way, anymore. Hell! I didn't even _like_ her like that, ever. I was just having fun."

"Yeah, well, you know her. It's only fun if she's having fun."

Tony shuddered at the memory of it all.

"How she can think that trying to force herself on someone in that way is fun is beyond me. But at least we got her where it hurts: her pride, her ego, and her money."

"And her teeth. Don't forget the teeth."

"Her teeth?" Tony laughed, remembering the chipped teeth, the swollen cheek, and the shut eye they had left Yolandi with. "Her FACE, Pepper. You totally marked her face."

"I didn't _mean_ to."

"Good thing for her you didn't. Can't imagine what you would've done to her if you _had_ meant it."

"Hey!" she swatted at his thigh. "In my defense, I didn't realize the pipe was made of metal – I was still kinda drugged. To be honest, I don't even know how I found my way to her room in that state. I just knew she was up to something when you weren't in bed with me, and I had to help you. And secondly, I, uhm… she… Well… Ugh! You know what? Screw it! I enjoyed hitting her. Bitch had it coming."

The genius could no longer hold back a loud guffaw as he pulled his arm away from her grip to throw it over her shoulders. He pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead, finished completing the embrace by bringing his left arm into it, and then rested the bottom half of his face against her forehead.

"I can't believe you're laughing this off, Tony," she returned the embrace by surrounding his waist with her left arm, afraid to do more than that and risking moving her injured foot. "You were at the mercy of a potential rapist. What that woman did to you and then _tried_ to do to you is horrible! Illegal. Immoral. Just plain wrong!"

"Yeah, it is. It was. But she couldn't finish it. It backfired and it got her in a pickle. And not the pickle she was looking for."

"Tony…"

"I'm serious."

"So am I. What she put you through – what she almost did… I can't imagine… If I'd been in your situation… if some man had tried to–"

"I'd fucking kill him."

And just like that, with an unfinished and highly hypothetical thought, all lightheartedness left the billionaire's soul.

The smile that had been beaming on his face turned into a deep scowl. His loving grip around her increased, turning overly protective in nature instead. His eyes, which had just a second ago shone with mirth and cheerfulness, turned distant and cold. In the literal blink of an eye, Tony Stark had switched gears; going from displaying a frolicking, playful attitude to one that promised some miserable asshole a slow and painful end.

Pepper could almost imagine the unspeakable scenarios his mind was concocting for him; each new one no doubt twice as terrible as the last. He was terribly good at coming up with the worst-case scenarios, and even better at worrying himself about things that would probably never come to pass. He was quickly losing himself in something that had never even happened. His almost-crippling hold on her was enough proof of that.

She needed to pull him right back to reality and fast.

Taking advantage of their closeness, Pepper slowly slid the bridge of her nose up his neck, stopping just below his jaw to press her lips against the skin there. She heard him swallow hard and felt him twitch a little, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down with the move. As mindful of her injury as possible, she then extended her right arm so that she could use her free hand to pull his face towards hers, stroking his cheekbone with her thumb as she whispered to him.

"Hey, look at me, Tony. It didn't happen. It didn't. Not to me and not that way. I'm fine."

He did not respond for a moment, opting for quietly looking her face up and down her instead. Nearly a minute of heavy silence passed between them, which was just enough time for Tony to find his voice again to finally ask his redhead something that had been gnawing at him for years.

"Did he… did he try to hurt you like that?"

Pepper knitted her brow. "Who?"

"Aldrich. When he took you. Did he–"

"No," she immediately replied, not only because it was true, but because she knew that any hesitation on her part would keep him from believing anything else she might have said.

"Are you–"

"Yes. I'm sure. He… he was more concerned about me taking onto Extremis than anything else. Besides, it was a long time ago. What happened to you… what almost happened–"

"Didn't hurt me," Tony replied with confidence. "Just pissed me off."

"Are you–"

"Yes. I'm sure," he echoed her earlier retort. "I'm more concerned about what she could've done to you. Me? I'd been through much worse than that."

"When? Battles?"

"No. Afghanistan."

He regretted the words as soon as they had left him, but it was too late to take them back. He had never spoken to anyone about everything that had happened to him during his time in captivity in the Middle East – he had hardly told her about Yinsen, at that. He had shared with her, Happy, and Rhodey only the bare minimum, if just to have a means to justify to them what many people had labeled of him as post-traumatic stress disorder displayed as highly erratic behavior.

" _I'm not crazy, Pepper,"_ he had once told her. And he had spent every second of his life since then proving to the world that he was not.

The nitty gritty details of the ordeal that had made him turn his life around were still only his to know. His burden to bear, after all these years. The final terms of the rite of passage towards the responsibility he now carried with him everywhere he went were still undisclosed. However, if anyone was worthy of learning from the horse's mouth how he had freed himself from imprisonment and at what cost, it was Pepper Potts, no doubt. At the same time, it was her, too, who he had always wanted to keep at the sidelines about the darkest time of his life. Not because he was afraid that she might judge him for it, but because he knew what it would do to her to find out.

The look on her face, however, said it all: she wanted him to open up to her, once and for all; to trust her with it – with the truth. She wanted to share the weight with him, however heavy it was. She wanted to sooth him and be there for him in his moment of need. Just as he had always done for her.

Months ago, before they had split up, he would have never considered sharing the worst of his kidnapping tribulation with her. Up until recently, he had kept to himself a lot of important minutiae of many of his close encounters with death – kept his fears from her. It had taken him months to admit to her that he had been crumbling into pieces after the events of New York, and had done so only after she had been clearly upset. It had turned into a pattern for him: breaking down only when he was pushed against the wall.

It was the easiest thing to do, he knew. And that was why he had done it so many times. But, in the end, it had cost him what he cherished the most.

They were here now, like this, because he had kept too many secrets from her. Because he had told her too many half-truths. Because he had not fully brought her into the loop of the strong and dedicated partnership they claimed to have. Because he had taken the high road when she had been practically begging him to let it all out.

And yet, here she was again, silently pleading with him to tell her what she wanted to know; what he had almost accidentally blurted out, even after every previous similar effort on her part to achieve the same result had lead them nowhere, fast. It was as if he had unintentionally placed himself at the edge of a precipice, having no intention to die from the fall, but needing to take the plunge either way.

He could have kept his mouth shut. He could have made a half-assed attempt at a joke, detract her from the conversation, and then moved on. He could have thought of many ways to derail the conversation. He was good at deflecting what he did not want to talk about.

But he did not. He was not. Enough was enough. He would not make her beg anymore. He owed to their friendship the most honest reply.

So he did. After a pause. With as much coolness as he could muster. He finally opened up about his time in the Middle East.

And by the time it was all said and done, she had tears cascading down her face.

And by the time she was done physically and verbally comforting him, it was already dawn.

xxxXXXxxx

" _Let it run its course, Happy. Send me the form, but don't expect it back before the deadline. Maybe not at all."_

 _ **"What?"**_

 _"You heard me. Send me the form. Forget about it for now. Worry about other things."_

 _ **"Worry about… what? Did you not hear me, Tony? This is serious! We can keep it from being even MORE serious. What is the matter with you?"**_

 _"I want her, Hap," Tony began, trusting his friend to such a high degree that he felt willing to be as open and exposed as he was about to be. "But I want her to want me, too. It's easier this way and you know it. She… she had already said it was over between us. I forced her hand to be here right now, doing what she's doing for me. If she has a chance to walk away unscathed… If she can avoid having a divorce on her records, well… you know what I'd do."_

 _ **"Tony, this is bigger than that. This is a company's future we're talking about.**_ _Your_ _ **company, by the way. She has put so much work into keeping it afloat, too. You owe it to her to help the company stay open, and I'm not just saying that because I work there, too."**_

 _"I know. But the company will always bounce back, no matter what. People love Iron Man and they love all the shit I come up with. What Pepper and I have… what we could have… I'm not risking that for anything."_

 _Tony could almost hear Happy rub his face with his hands and roll his eyes in frustration._

 _ **"OK. Fine. I get where you're coming from and all. You're so noble and thoughtful and selfless and blah-blah-blah. But, Tony, if you really wanna do something for her, then let HER make the choice. Tell her about it. Talk to her. Let her decide if she wants to let the paper expire or if she wants to stay married to you."**_

 _Well! At least Happy and he shared an important thought._

 _"Telling her about it right now is not giving her a choice. She'll sign it. You know she will."_

 _ **"Then pick another time, soon. Hint at it. Something! Don't make this worse but don't take the option from her, either. She'll resent you if you do."**_

 _"She already resents me for many things…"_

 _ **"Then don't add one more to the list."**_

 _This time, it was Happy who could almost hear Tony releasing his frustration by rubbing his eyes raw._

 _"Fine," Tony finally said, if only to give the appearance of putting up a fight. He had already decided to leave the final decision up to her. "I'll tell her. I'll give her the choice. Just… not now."_

 _ **"Sometime during this lifetime is all I ask."**_

 _"Smartass."_

 _ **"Better than a dumbass."**_

 _"Shut up."_

 _ **"Fly over here and make me."**_

 _Tony chuckled. "I miss you, Hap."_

 _Happy laughed on the other end of the line._ _ **"I have a feeling we'd already had this conversation before. Feeling the déjà vu?"**_

 _"Maybe. Maybe not," Tony sighed. "How's Rhodey? Any news?"_

 _ **"None. Still in therapy. Hanging in there. You know how he is."**_

 _"Stubborn as some people I know."_

 _ **"But not more stubborn than some people I have on the line right now."**_

 _"Have you been taking courses in wit? I feel like I need to catch up."_

 _ **"What you need is to find a way to tell Pepper that your marriage is not finalized. Then, take a step back and let her make a choice. How about that?"**_

 _"Stubborn."_

 _ **"Just care about you and her, that's all."**_

 _"I know, Happy. I know. But don't worry about it. I told ya. Go watch some re-runs of Downton Abby or something. I got this covered."_

 _ **"Funny,"**_ _Happy said with some bitterness in his voice,_ _ **"That's what I'm afraid of."**_

 _"That I don't got it covered?"_

 _ **"Nah. That you do."**_

 _"Win some, lose some."_

 _ **"And you are due for a win, dude."**_

 _Tony closed his eyes again and exhaled deeply, not wanting to get into this conversation at one in the morning, and much less when he had to meet with none other than Yolandi Venter in just a few hours, too. He knew that Happy was just extremely worried about him and his mental state, as he had seen first-hand what his breakup with Pepper had done to the billionaire. The man was probably imagining the worst-case scenario about the inventor if the temporary yet fake marriage ended as badly as the dating had._

" _Tell Rhodey we miss him. That I'll go see him as soon as we're done with this."_

 _ **"I will. Say**_ _hi_ _ **to Pepper for me."**_

 _"I will. Bye, Happy. Thanks for calling."_

 _ **"Bye, Tony. Thanks for answering on the millionth call."**_

 _After a brief chuckle and more playfully name-calling from both their ends, Tony finally disconnected the call, wanting nothing more than to go back to bed to get ready for the day. He was aware, however, that he was not going to get what he wanted anymore, until perhaps the day after today – and definitely not after this call. He probably had to resign himself to walking around the plane like a crazy person for the rest of the night, if that was all he managed to do with himself and his unwanted free time._

 _Then again, he could always go lay down with Pepper in the bed, if for no other reason than to lull himself into a sense of peace with the sound of her breathing and of temporary relaxation with the feel of her warmth; taking whatever he could get from her while there was still a chance. He was going to tell Pepper about the paperwork expiring and how it impacted their now not-possible divorce, no doubt about that, but he was just not sure when it would be the right time._

 _Perhaps, if he was very lucky about it and wished upon a star, the right time would fall into his lap in an obvious way. Maybe, if he was as patient as he had been so far, the world would cut him some slack and would be kind enough to show him the way. Or maybe, the third option that would more likely be executed before he could stop it, would be that Pepper would find out about it before she was ready, and the entire point would become moot._

 _Which option he preferred was quite obvious – as obvious as the one he knew would make itself known, no matter what._

 _ **At least I'll see it coming**_ _, Tony sighed in resignation as he crawled back into bed._ _ **Better than being surprised.**_

 _Surprises were never good, anyway._

 _Or so he had thought._

 _Only time would show them both how wrong he had been._


	9. Chapter 8: Dhaka

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Thank you for the favorite/follow:** _josianeyuki, LovernonFighter89 and Adutoodguy._

 **Guest: You're doing a great job with this story. Please don't take too long to update. I'm really looking forward to where you're gonna take their story.** – Thank you so much :D I wish I could make promises with the updates, but I don't want to disappoint. Hope this doesn't deter you from coming back for more :)

 **A/N:** This is officially the middle part of the story. Thought some of you would like to know that ;)

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Dhaka**

He tried opening his eyes but his eyelids felt heavy. He then tried to move his hands, but his entire body felt non-responsive and numb. He partly licked his lips and was surprised by the minor taste of cooper he found there, only adding to his current state of confusion. Had he bit his tongue? Chapped his lips? Why was everything so jumbled in his mind? Why did his body feel like it was made of lead? Why could he not open his eyes?

And, while he was at it, could someone please tell him where the fuck he was?

xxxXXXxxx

 _Pepper was pleasantly surprised when her left foot fit into her heel with no issue. She was even more surprised when she stood up and there was no pain at all to be felt. The two days that she had been off her feet had yielded a speedy recovery from her ice skating accident, just in time for their next meeting with their investor in Dhaka. It appeared as if Tony's efforts to tend to her injury had truly paid off – no matter how ridiculous his actions had felt at some point. Carrying her everywhere (even into the bathroom, before being shoved away from the premises); alternating attention to her foot by having it be under ice and then inside a bucket of warm water infused with bath salts; gently massaging it after watching online videos on how to increase blood flow by targeting pressure points; and not letting her leave the bed for any reason without his help had all contributed to her present state: one in which she was_ _ **cured**_ _and ready to take on the challenges of the day._

 _"So, what's the verdict, Potts?" the inventor asked from his position by the entrance of the bathroom, his left side pressed against the threshold and his arms crossed over his chest._

 _"You're in the wrong profession," she replied at his reflection in the mirror, a small smile threatening to leave her._

 _"How so?"_

 _Pepper turned in place to face him, her back resting against the vanity. Her hands grabbed onto the edge of the counter to support her weight, and she made no move to approach him just yet._

 _"You've got what it takes to be a boo-boo fixer, especially if the injury is an ankle sprain."_

 _The loud snort that came out of him made Pepper laugh._

 _"Yeah, you keep poking fun at my magic hands and you won't have them all over you anymore, Pepper."_

 _"They_ _ **weren't**_ _all over me," she narrowed her eyes at him in mock anger._

 _"I beg to differ," he shrugged. "I carried you everywhere, tucked you into bed and helped you get_ _ **un**_ _dressed. My hands_ _ **had**_ _to be all over you to do all of that."_

 _"You're incorrigible," she sighed._

 _Tony scoffed and further dismissed her argument with a lazy wave of his right hand. "As if you'd like me to be any other way. There's nothing you'd change about me and you know it."_

 _"The word_ _ **humility**_ _comes to mind," she said as she began to walk towards him._

 _"Never heard of it," Tony shrugged again and shoved his hands into his pockets._

 _"Of course, you haven't," Pepper shook her head at him in feigned disapproval of his antics._

" _Honestly, I think you made it up. Just now."_

" _Sure. I did," she was now standing so close to him that she had to throw her head back to be able to look at his face. "Because that's what I do: make up words on the spot."_

" _At least you admit to it. That's the first step to recovery. Or so I've heard."_

" _You're not sure?"_

" _Nope. Haven't had to deal with something like that, ever."_

" _Oh?" Pepper arched an eyebrow, simultaneously hating and loving their bantering. "Let me guess. You haven't had to deal with it because there's nothing you need to recover from."_

" _Exactly."_

" _Because you're perfect."_

" _You're catching on."_

 _Pepper rolled her eyes, sighed, and then walked around him towards the bedroom. "Are we ready to roll or what?"_

 _"We are," he turned in place and then began to follow her towards the main exit. "Param's going to meet us at the restaurant."_

 _"Alright," Pepper said as she picked up her purse._

xxxXXXxxx

The musty smell was a sure sign that the place was humid, probably also moldy as hell, but this was not at all surprising to her. Dhaka was pretty wet during the summer months; it was monsoon season after all. Strong storms were the order of the day and, without proper care and maintenance, any building would soon turn into an asthmatic's worst nightmare. As much as she hated the current conditions surrounding her, the knowledge that she was still in known territory brought her relief. Even if she had no idea where she was, or how long she had been there, she was almost certain that she was still in Bangladesh.

And, even if she were not, even if she found herself in another dimension or world, she knew _he_ would come. Her only hope and wish was that, when he did, he did not find her dead… for _his_ sake.

xxxXXXxxx

 _After one last glance towards their current living quarters, Tony snatched the keys to their rented vehicle from the keyholder near the exit before intertwining his left hand with Pepper's, leading them both out into the hall. He let the door to their room close itself behind them, which made them both cringe when the sound it made was louder than they had expected._

 _"Oops," Tony visibly winced once more and Pepper agreed with a nod, both flinching when a few scowling guests opened their doors to see what the commotion was about. The couple simply waved apologetically at the guests and then quickened their pace towards the elevator. The last thing either of them needed or wanted at the moment was even more attention than what they had received as of yet._

 _"Help the door close next time?" the redhead proposed as she pressed the button to call on the elevator._

 _"Yup."_

 _The elevator took about two minutes to reach their floor, and nearly one to help them reach the ground floor, but it at least had remained empty of other guests the entire time. After Pepper's incident had reached the masses via the magic of the Internet, people had been more forward in reaching out to them while in public places, all showing their sympathy for the ginger and asking if she was all right – some even offering home remedies to speed up her recovery. For this reason, their trek from their jet to their rented vehicle had taken longer than expected. They had been stopped by almost twenty different people by the time they had jumped into the car, while all they had been able to do during it was wave, nod, and accept the unsolicited information with a bright smile._

 _The hotel employees had not been as fanatical in their behavior as the general public had been about the subject, but the accident_ _ **had**_ _been brought up, nonetheless. The staff had offered to get Pepper a wheelchair or even get them a ground floor room, but both options had been immediately and politely turned down by the couple. The last thing they needed was to exacerbate the situation by using a wheelchair for Pepper or exposing themselves to even more interruptions by staying near the entrance of the hotel._

 _Catching a bit of good luck, the walk from the elevator to their car was done without interruptions and in a comfortable silence, as was the drive towards the restaurant where they were to meet Param Huq. After the break they had gotten while visiting Abd al Jabbar Sayegh in Dubai, and after further strengthening their once-broken bond with Tony's confession about the events in Afghanistan, they were both relaxed, in high spirits, and ready to tackle the business purpose of this trip._

 _This meeting marked the halfway point of their six-weeks of travel time and, at the end of their visit with Param, they were expected to brief the Board on their efforts thus far. Despite what they had suffered through to get here, both Tony and Pepper were happy and looking forward to what they were going to relay to the board members. The combined amounts of investments accepted so far were enough to cover seventy-five percent of the Foundation's pledges, and they still had six other investors to speak with – most of which were not as crazy as three of the five they had met with up to now. Or at least not crazy in a way that made them fear for their lives._

 _Then again, there was their investor in Moscow, Anton Mikhailov, who loved adventures. And vodka. And mixing adventures with vodka._

 _But at least he would not drug them and then tie them to a bed._

xxxXXXxxx

It had been quiet for a while. The men that had been roaming around appeared to have left for now, perhaps for the rest of the day. Still, she was afraid to move or make a sound. It was surprising that they were yet to figure out who she was, but it was probably because they had not bothered to take a look at either of them before they had put the bags onto their heads – just as Tony had already experienced once before while in Afghanistan.

xxxXXXxxx

 _True to his word, Param was at the restaurant by the time they arrived. He waved at them enthusiastically as they walked toward his table. The waiter had immediately recognized them and had promptly walked them toward the back of the restaurant to reach what he had deemed to be_ _ **Mr. Huq's favorite table**_ _. Tony and Pepper could tell why this was the man's preferred location in the entire place: the lights were dimmed, there was hardly any people back there, and privacy was easily attained. This was the perfect place to have a business meeting while enjoying a meal._

 _Param stood up to greet the couple with a strong handshake and a wide smile, not at all forgetting to congratulate them on their nuptials. Tony and Pepper thanked him for his kind words and then sat across from him, opting to share one side of the four-person table they were at. They picked up the menus and began perusing them, knowing that Param was a very humble man who was of the school of 'food first, business later.'_

 _"I love this restaurant," Param began as he read the menu, "I used to walk by it when I was a child. It was too expensive for my family to afford eating here – or out anywhere. We didn't have much back then. But whenever we got to walk by the door, the smell would get me to drool every time."_

 _"So, one might say that you became wealthy just to eat here," Tony deadpanned in that tone that told people he was joking around._

 _Param laughed aloud. "At the rate I eat here, I don't think I can deny that!"_

xxxXXXxxx

He was not sure how much time had passed since he had become aware of not knowing where he was, but his body was starting to finally listen to his commands. His fingers and toes started curling. His neck complained but was compliant to his demands to move to the side. His throat hurt something awful, but his voice felt compelled to help him let out a loud groan.

 _"He's coming to,"_ he heard someone say nearby. _"Hurry! Get everyone else back here right now!"_

xxxXXXxxx

 _The meal had been surprisingly good and, had Tony and Pepper not known beforehand that this was actually a business meeting, they would have sworn that this was nothing more than a lunch date with the nice and slightly quirky uncle they had never had. Despite his riches, Param had never lost his humbleness or had used his status to get more than what was considered fair. The man still rode public transportation, did not live in a mansion or have a limousine, and went to work as many hours as he expected of his employees. He hardly ever attended the pompous galas the other billionaires loved to use to boast their new acquisitions of wealth or power, and it was more likely to see Param spend his weekends at home with his family than at a golf park with the_ _ **good ol' boys**_ _._

 _All in all, Tony partially envied the man. He had everything that Tony hoped to one day have for himself. The inventor wondered if Param knew how lucky he truly was._

" _The terms of your renewal contract seem reasonable," Param said, breaking Tony's train of thought, and signaling to the couple that business time had finally arrived._

 _Pepper nodded. "We tried to remain as true to the original terms as possible. No one likes surprises, especially ones that have financial implications."_

" _I wouldn't expect any less from either of you. I'm very fortunate to do business with you. I wish more of my other business partners retained as much ethic as you two. You wouldn't believe the kind of crap I have to deal with when meeting some of my investors. It's like going to a circus. A bad one!"_

 _Pepper and Tony exchanged a knowing look before returning their attention to Param._

" _Oh, I think we have an idea," Pepper replied._

" _We went to see Yolandi Venter," Tony added, prompting Param to make a face of disgust._

" _My condolences," Param said with a shake of the head. "Meeting that woman face to face is like having to swallow someone else's snot. I sure hope the torture was worth it."_

" _I'd say so," Tony said with finality, covertly letting their host know that this was all they had to say in the matter. Thankfully for them, Param took the hint._

" _Well, this meeting has been refreshing," Param began, "Why don't we go back to my office? I'll get my people to get the ball rolling on this contract, and I'll show you what we're working on right now while we wait. I promised the kids and the missus I'd take the rest of the week off to go on a family vacation, so I'd like to finalize this today, if you're OK with that."_

" _Oh," the couple said in unison, both taken aback._

 _Param looked distraught by their response. "I hope this isn't a problem."_

" _It's not," Tony replied. "It's actually even better for us. We've been traveling non-stop for three weeks and our next stop is Moscow. We can use the extra time to prepare."_

" _Moscow?" Param frowned for a moment and then a look of recognition fell on his face. "Anton? You're visiting Anton?"_

" _We are," Pepper nodded._

" _Do you have medical insurance while traveling?"_

 _Pepper sighed, knowing exactly what Param was referring to. "We do. We learned the need for it fast. Last time we were there, he and Tony swam with sharks."_

" _Sharks? In Russia?"_

" _In Australia," Pepper said with a grimace. "Great Whites."_

" _We flew there overnight," Tony clarified and rubbed the back of his neck, wincing slightly at what was clearly not one of his brightest moments._

" _And you let him?" Param directed his question at Pepper, eyes opened wide. "My wife would've tied me to the bed if I told her I'd do that. With Anton, at that!"_

 _The mention of being restrained on a bed made them both internally flinch, but the look on their faces never faltered at all._

" _The time before that," Pepper said as she stole a glance at the inventor, "Anton and Tony went anaconda wrestling."_

" _Anaconda… wrestling…"_

" _Yup," Pepper smacked her lips with her response._

" _Is that even a thing?" Param shook his head in disbelief._

" _If it wasn't, it became a thing with Anton," Tony replied._

" _Oh, Allah…" Param rubbed his face with his hands. "I'm suddenly so grateful to have turned down a getaway weekend with that man."_

" _I guess that means you're not interested in trading places with us?" Pepper asked, partly joking and partly hoping Param would take them up on the offer so that they did not have to subject themselves to whatever adventures Anton had in mind for them this time around._

" _Sorry, Mrs. Stark. I'm afraid I will have to pass on that."_

" _Smart man," Tony said, his fingers playing with a napkin. "Too bad we aren't that smart."_

" _Well, who knows?" Param shrugged, "Maybe Anton will cut you some slack, seeing as the missus will be with you."_

" _Knowing him, he'll probably invite me to it."_

" _And knowing Tony," Param said, "He will probably tell Anton to… what is the term..."_

" _Fuck off?" Tony nodded sharply. "Yup. Probably. No anacondas or sharks near Pepper."_

" _Tony!"_

" _I would tell him the same thing," Param admitted. "He can do whatever he wants with me. But my wife and kids are off-limits. They're the best thing I have in my life. I would never put them in danger like that. Especially not just_ _ **for fun**_ _. Or whatever it is that Anton thinks his adventures are."_

" _See?" Tony stared at Pepper as he spoke. "Param gets it."_

" _I don't think Param getting it is the problem. It's Anton_ _ **not**_ _getting it," Pepper argued back._

" _Well, I will keep you in my prayers. Maybe Anton will break a leg and not force you to join him on his crazy quests."_

" _Or maybe," Tony said, "I'll just save us the trouble and break_ _ **my**_ _leg on purpose right now."_

 _After a quick moment of shock and an exchange of surprised looks amongst them, the three of them laughed aloud._

xxxXXXxxx

"Are you alright?"

The sudden voice startled her, and it took her a moment to recognize who it was that was near her. Her eyes were open, of that much she was certain, but the bag was still over her head.

"Param?"

"Yes, my dear. It's me. Are you hurt?"

Pepper took a moment to consider Param's question, wiggling her restrained body a little as she did so.

"I don't think so. Are you?"

"No," Param replied. "But I don't know how long that will be the case."

Pepper swallowed hard. "Do you… do you know what they want? They were speaking in Bengali. I couldn't understand what they were saying."

"Money," Param said in a dejected tone. "They're were talking about how to negotiate my release and for how much to ask."

" _Your_ release? Did they how… did they say what… what about me?"

Param gulped, his voice turning somber as he spoke again.

"They don't know yet. They don't know who you are, either. That's a good thing, for now."

"But, once they do…"

"Once they do, Allah help us."

"Or Allah help them, once Tony finds us."

"Or that."

Pepper took in a deep breath through her nose and then exhaled through her mouth, slowly processing Param's words. They had not meant to take her, only him. She had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. This meant that they had no plans for her. But, it also meant that they _had no plans for her_. Her future was up in the air for now – extremely uncertain, and that alone was cause for grave concern. She could become either disposable or indispensable. A liability or a way to rack up their reward. A life they would disregard and leave somewhere in a ditch… or an extra item they got to play with while they waited for their actual payoff.

 _"So am I. What she put you through – what she almost did… I can't imagine… If I'd been in your situation… if some man had tried to–"_

 _"I'd fucking kill him."_

Pepper closed her eyes, images of her last kidnapping coming to mind. This could not turn out to be as bad as that last time, could it? Extremis soldiers beat the hell out of any other type of abductors, right?

Maybe it would. Maybe it would not.

Their only hope was that Tony found them in time, preferably before these people realized who she was. Because of course he would look for them; for her, unless he did not survive the distraction these men had used to snatch her and Param.

 _Oh, Tony_ , Pepper swallowed down the taste of bile that threatened to rise to her mouth at thinking that it was very likely that she was hopelessly waiting to see again a man that was probably already dead.

 _No_ , Pepper shook her head with confidence she was not sure she truly had. _He's not dead. He's not gone._

"Call me crazy," Pepper finally said, unsure as to how much of her following statement was a joke and how much of it she believed to be true, "But I'd prefer to be anaconda wrestling right now."

"Call _me_ crazy," Param replied before the door slammed open again, "But I'd prefer that, too."

xxxXXXxxx

 _The three of them were nearly out the door of the restaurant when Tony realized he had to go back._

 _"Darn it," the inventor patted his body several times, "I think I left my phone on the table."_

 _"I'll go get it," Pepper offered, her feet already taking steps towards her destination, but Tony shook his head at her and halted her trek by holding onto her waist._

 _"No, Honey, it's OK. I'll get it."_

 _"You sure?"_

 _"Yeah. Be right back."_

 _It took no more than ten seconds for Tony to walk back to their table, pick up his phone, and then rush back outside. Unfortunately, he never really made it past the lobby of the restaurant._

 _A loud explosion made him and everyone else nearby halt in their tracks, instead._

xxxXXXxxx

The moment he saw the doctors and nurses frantically hovering over him was the moment his brain decided to hit him with what he had seemed to have forgotten. All of it. Every second of it. At the same time.

The bright light. The loud sounds. The feeling of flying backwards and crashing onto tables and chairs. The screaming of panicked people. The ringing in his ears. His voice calling out for Pepper. His entire body giving up on him and his brain blacking out. Someone had attacked them. Someone had attempted to end their lives. And this time, he was certain, it had not been a cruel dream.

"Shit!" Tony immediately sat up on the bed, only to then feel the room spinning around him with enough intensity to force him to close his eyes again.

"Lay back down, Mr. Stark," a man who Tony assumed was the main doctor in charge told the billionaire.

"The hell I will," Tony bit down on his tongue to keep him from throwing up. "Where's Pepper? Is she alive?"

The long silence that followed his questions made his eyes snap open again.

" _Where_ is she?" this time, Tony directed his eyes and question at the man who had called his name just now. The medic should have known better than to call attention to himself.

The doctor looked towards his colleagues, unsure as to how to properly answer the genius' question. The last time the inventor had asked them this, he had been on a gurney, being taken away from the scene of the crime and to this hospital to receive urgent care. At that moment, the doctor had been lucky enough to have no way of knowing what the proper response to the man's question was. Right now, however, he did have a non-answer answer to provide. Grimacing, the doctor realized that he was not sure what was worse in this case: having an answer, or having no answer at all.

"I… I'm afraid I do not know the answer, Mr. Stark."

"What do you mean you _don't_ know? She's not here?"

The doctor shook his head from side to side. "The police are still investigating the incident. Some people died – most bodies are still unidentified. Others were injured. I… no one knows for certain yet. It's only been a day or so."

"What?!" Tony threw the covers off his body and began examining his wounds as he spoke, "A day? I've been out a whole day?! Did you operate on me?"

"No! There was no need. You miraculously only had a concussion and some lacerations. But… You-you… well, we-we-we had to-to… sedate you… because… because you wouldn't–"

"Son of a bitch," the genius mumbled, fighting the screaming pain of his head as he slid his legs off to the side of the bed. He then pulled the IV line straight from his right arm and the heart monitor from his left index finger, which sent the machine into warning mode.

"Mr. Stark," the doctor pleaded while one of the nurses busied herself turning off the heart monitor, "I wouldn't advice that you–"

"Where's my stuff?"

"What?"

"My clothes! My phone! My wallet! Where are they?"

"Sir! I cannot… you cannot… your injuries. You must remain in observation. Your concussion–"

"I've had worse," Tony spat, forcing his body to stand on wobbly legs. "Now, either _you_ get my stuff so I can leave, or _I_ get my attorney so that you can get sued. Not your nurse or this hospital, or your buddies over there. _You_. So, what's it gonna be?"

The team of doctors and nurses stared at one another, clearly all at a loss about what to do. They knew that, had this man been any other patient, it was their medical duty to keep him from leaving the premises in his condition. However, knowing who he was and what he could do, they knew that they only had one option to choose from.

Begrudgingly, yet thankfully for Tony, the doctor opted to let him go.

xxxXXXxxx

 _While Tony rushed back to their table to gather his cell phone, Pepper and Param got inside the rented car. Param had wanted to take the bus back to his company, but Tony and Pepper had quickly rejected the notion of allowing their investor to use public transportation when they: a) had a perfectly working vehicle to share; and, b) they were all headed to the same destination._

 _"It's no big deal, Param, really," Pepper assured him while she climbed onto the passenger seat and the investor took the back. "In fact," she giggled, "It's gonna be really fun for you to watch To–"_

 _ **BOOM.**_

 _The sound alone made her scream in confusion and surprise._

 _But the shifting of the vehicle into the air and then onto its back was what left her with no doubt that they were under attack. Instinctively, the redhead reached for her phone to dial 911, but she then realized that they were not in a place where emergency services could be contacted in that way._

 _"Mrs. Stark? Are you OK?" Pepper heard Param say from his position on what was essentially the ceiling of the car. He had not gotten the opportunity to put on his seat belt and was now sprawled all over the back of the car._

 _"Yeah," Pepper answered, her heart racing and her body trembling. "I'm OK. Are you OK? Tony… did you see–"_

 _"GET OUT!"_

 _"NO! Let me–"_

 _Her next words died on her lips. Her struggle did nothing to help put a stop to the hands that grabbed her and dragged her out of the car. The darkness that engulfed her head made it almost impossible to react and prevent what was clearly happening to her. It all happened too suddenly and too unexpectedly. Simply kicking and screaming was not going to do any good at all._

 _The last she heard were approaching sirens, an almost faint yet desperate call for her name, and then the sound of a bulky object being slammed against her head._

xxxXXXxxx

"Tony!"

The genius' head snapped towards the sound of his name, sighing in relief when he saw none other than Happy Hogan fast walking towards him, his armored suitcase in hand.

"Where is she?" the inventor repeated his question, lousily swatting away Happy's worried hand from his face and arms and then snatched away the briefcase from the former boxer's grip.

"Are you good?" Happy asked instead as he followed Tony towards the exit of the building, already aware that he was very likely going to suit up and fly off to who-knew-where. "'Cuz you look like shit right now. Are you OK to leave the hospital so soon?"

"I'm dressed, kinda…" Tony frowned at his rushed and half-assed attempt at putting his clothes back on, "And I'm walking and talking. I'm good."

Happy Hogan gave the billionaire a skeptical look and Tony sighed in frustration.

"I'm good, Happy. You know this is nothing new to me. But what about Pepper? What do we know about her?"

Happy shook his head in disappointment and his shoulders sagged.

"I don't know, Tony. I got here just a few hours ago and no one is telling me anything because I'm not on _the next-of-kin_ list," Happy rolled his eyes at the bureaucracy of the hospital. "I didn't even know if _you_ were OK until just now."

Tony groaned. "What do we know about the attack?"

"Only what has been released to the press. There was a bomb. Homemade. Not too big but bad enough to kill anyone within a decent range. People inside the restaurant made it. A few people that were outside and near it, didn't."

Tony gulped and stopped in his tracks, his heart racing even more than it already was.

"Pepper was outside with Param," the sudden look of loss in his eyes made it clear to Happy that Tony was back in time, replaying the events of the bombing as if watching them in a reel. "They were getting in the car. I'd gone back inside to get my phone. She… she wanted to get it for me. I said _no_."

"The car was towed. It was…" Happy paused for a second, carefully measuring his next words. "It was empty, Tony."

Tony spared a glance at his friend before giving him a slow nod of understanding and asking a question he dreaded to be answered.

"Been to the morgue? Or wherever it is where they hold bodies here?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

Happy shrugged. "It was hard to tell. But I don't think she was there."

Tony closed his eyes tightly and exhaled through his nose, fighting against the panic that threatened to overtake him.

"What about Param?"

"Same. His family was here, hoping he was just mildly injured. But no one knows where he is. His wife couldn't identify him from any of the bodies. Or maybe she just didn't want to. Like I didn't want to for Pepper either."

Tony's head hung as he went over the situation at hand – the tiny portion he knew of it, at that. Part of him wanted to go to the morgue and see for himself if Pepper was there. Another part of him wanted to believe Happy's assessment and just get on with the search right now.

The _search_. Because, if Pepper was not dead and she was not at a hospital, that meant that she was still out there. Somewhere. Waiting for him. And so was Param.

"Are… are her belongings anywhere? Her bag? Her phone?"

"The police have them. You being her husband… I'm sure they'll give them to you. They didn't even let me ask."

"Then let's go," Tony said, by some miracle remaining as calm as he could be. "Let's go get her stuff."

xxxXXXxxx

" _Who's the woman?"_

 _"Didn't check. Probably his assistant."_

 _"Or his wife?"_

 _"Well, if she is, that's gotta be worth more, right?"_

 _"To him, yes."_

 _"Good."_

 _"Let's make them wait a little and then see what we can get out of that."_

xxxXXXxxx

"Stay calm. Don't move. Don't say a word."

The whispered advice coming from Param was the last thing she was able to make sense of before the language barrier made her lose a clear track of what was happening around her. The livid shouting did not need any translation, however, and neither did the blows she could hear Param receiving beside her from the men that had taken them. If his feet and hands were bound, just as hers were, she could imagine the level of defenselessness Param was experiencing right now.

 _They're going kill him! They're going to kill_ _ **us**_ _!_

 _No_ , she shook her head in denial at her own thoughts. She could not let that take place. That was not an option. They had to make it. They both had to make it. They only had to wing it until Tony arrived – whether that was in the next five hours or the next five minutes, they just had to survive somehow. And if these people became busy with something else, _someone_ else… then Param…

 _Tony, I'm so sorry_.

It only took two more punches for Pepper to finally lose the little control she had over herself. She could no longer bear to hear the sounds of flesh being pounded without mercy, or the sounds of pain Param was making with every blow. This man had a wife and kids to go back to. His family depended on him, and she doubted that he had ever done anything to anyone to deserve this, let alone to these people.

"Stop! STOP, _please_!"

Despite her pleas, the barrage continued for a few more seconds before it stopped as abruptly as it had been born. She felt and heard Param groan and slide down to the ground, and she then gasped loudly when the bag was pulled away from her head.

 _Ugh!_

The change in the amount of light made her pupils hurt, but she shook her head from the discomfort before looking up to face her captors with a shuddering breath.

Her gaze quickly flickered to her right to see how Param was fairing. When her eyes returned to the four people standing before her, she saw a glint of confusion in their eyes – as if they had been expecting her to be someone else.

The four men stared silently at one another for a minute. Then, one of them leaned down and towards to her, holding her head in place by her chin. He moved her head from side to side, as if he were examining an unknown specimen, and then suddenly slapped her cheek with enough force to send her to the ground on her side.

Before she was able to do anything else, a second man grabbed her by the hair and used it to pull her towards the door, all the while a bleeding and bruised Param begged for them to let her go.

XxxXXXxxx

"No, Tony. Just… no!"

He wanted to be right and for Happy to be wrong, but this was without a doubt one of the occasions in which Iron Man would honestly only make things worse. Arriving in full Iron Man gear at the location where the authorities suspected the kidnappers were in hiding was not the smart play. Standing behind and doing nothing, however, was also not something Tony could live with.

The police had informed the media that it had been determined that the bomb had simply been a decoy – a way to distract and confuse people while the real crime took place: the planned kidnapping of Param Huq, and the unintended kidnapping of Pepper Potts.

A ransom demand had been expected to be received by now, but there was no sign of any attempts at negotiating the release of the captives. And even if they did eventually hear something from the criminals, Tony was not sure that Pepper would be part of the deal. They had no reason to include her, if they even knew who she was. In fact, if he were them and he realized who he had accidentally kidnapped, he would not even mention that he had taken a celebrity with him. Param was well-known in Bangladesh. Pepper was known around the world. If the captors believed that the FBI, S.H.I.E.L.D., the Interpol and Iron Man himself were on their tail, they would have no problem killing her to avoid the extra heat. Or perhaps just because there would be no getting out of the altercation alive. Might as well take everyone down with them.

"Happy," Tony paced back and forth near Happy's rented car, "I can't leave her there. I can't just trust these people to–"

"Don't," Happy warned his friend, both of them waiting for the officers to leave the station so that they could follow them. "If we do this, we're only there to do it covertly. We'll look around, see what the cops do, and _then_ find our way in. No blasting walls, or using laser beams, or remote satellites to bring in nukes or any of that. No Iron Man. We don't know exactly where Pepper is. The last thing we want to do is hurt her. I _know_ you don't want to hurt her."

Tony sighed and rested his weight against the side of the car, his entire demeanor crestfallen. His head was still pounding. He still felt slightly dizzy and was hungry despite the knots he felt forming in his stomach. The marks of the IV line he had pulled off his arm without care were turning into bruises. He had taken a look at his face while Happy had been driving them to the station and he knew that he had scratches and dried blood on the right side of his face and neck. Nothing that would leave a terrible scar behind, but he was sure that his physical state was not helping him make a case.

He could only hope that Pepper was doing better than him. And that the men that had taken them had not laid a finger on her.

xxxXXXxxx

The five long minutes of glares and manhandling had ended when one of the men had suddenly gasped loudly before taking out his phone from his pocket and used it to show something to the other men. They were still speaking in Bengali, and she could only guess that what they were talking about by the frantic waving of their arms and the angry pointing of fingers was something pretty important. Important enough to forget about her presence for several minutes while they argued. Important enough for them to then speak English to her.

"Iron Man?" the man that had pulled her by the hair asked, "You're Iron Man's wife?"

Pepper swallowed hard and then gave the men a single nod.

"Told you!" the men with the phone in his hands shouted at the other three as he pointed at a picture of the ginger and the inventor. "We are fucked!"

"Is he here?" the question was directed at Pepper now. "In Bangladesh? Iron Man, is he here?"

"Yes," Pepper cleared her throat. "Tony is here. He was at the restaurant with me. He's probably looking for me – for _us_ , right now. Param is our friend."

"Shit!" the hair-puller guy screamed. "Shit! _SHIT_!"

"He's coming," cell phone man said. "He IS coming for _her_. What do we do now? With her? With Param? We can't take on Iron Man!"

"No, we can't," slapper guy said.

"So? _What_ do we do?"

"There's only one thing we _can_ do," the man that had slapped her twice continued as he took out a switchblade from his back pocket and took a step towards the redhead. "I'll take care of her. You take Param."

And just like that, Pepper's blood turned cold.

xxxXXXxxx

Their plans to run their own rescue mission were ruined the moment they realized that more police officers than they had expected had shown up at the scene. There was no way to sneak inside the building now without making a big scene. No way to even _try_. At the very least, no one had tried to tell him or Happy to leave the premises for now. They had just told them to stay back and let the _professionals do their jobs_.

 _Professionals, my iron ass_ , Tony groaned but remained rooted to his spot, eyes glued to the main entrance of the abandoned warehouse, waiting for the perfect chance to bust inside.

"How sure are we that they're even in there?" Happy rubbed his chin nervously. "What if they're wrong and Pepper's already somewhere else? Or… gone?"

"It's the only lead they have. And without her phone with her… with hardly any other clues or leads… I can't track her any other way. Not without hacking a bunch of computers and satellites and taking hours to find her like that."

"Maybe you should've put a tracker in her ring."

"Huh… a tracker in her ring. That screams… _divorce_."

"Well, you're gonna get one anyway," Happy scoffed, his fear for Pepper's life getting the best of him. "Or an annulment, if you don't have her sign the damn papers."

"Is this really the time to discuss this?" Tony snapped back. "Because I don't think it is."

"Maybe not," Happy conceded. "But we've waiting for two hours and nothing's going on!"

"So, the solution to your boredom is to throw my shortcomings and poor decisions in my face?"

"No! My solution, to my anxiety at what could be happening to Pepper right now, is to remind you that, if Pepper is alive and walks out that door, you better make a decision fast. How much more danger are you going to put her in without her consent? How much more are you going to drag your feet on this? Tell her the truth or let her go!"

"I'm working on it, Happy, OK? I am. I…" Tony gulped. "We've been having some pretty deep conversations lately. I'm building up to it."

"Well, build up to it faster. You don't have your entire life. And neither does she," Happy rubbed his face with his hands. "And sorry for being an ass to you just now. I know you're worried about her. I am too."

"I know. Does Rhodey know what's going on here right now?"

"I haven't told him. He's still in therapy. I called the docs there and told them not to let him watch TV."

"He _has_ a phone, you know?"

"Yeah. Well. Not much I can do about that."

"I guess. Actually, I probably should–"

"INCOMING!" the sudden shout from the captain of the police force made Tony and Happy jump inside their skin, "WEAPONS READY! FIRE ON MY MARK!"

Happy rushed to stand in front of Tony when he realized that the genius was about to break into a run towards the front door that had been suddenly opened up. There was no light inside the building and it was already night. If the captors were about to come out guns blazing, there would not be enough time to properly react.

"WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED!" the captain said through the megaphone. "PUT YOUR WEAPONS DOWN AND SURRENDER!"

Everyone outside held their breath as they waited for any response from the inside. Snippers were aiming at the many broken windows the front of the building held. Others were trekking behind the building, slowly approaching it, guns raised. The rest of the officers had their guns pointed at the entrance, nervously eyeing their captain from the corners of their eyes, all waiting for the order to make a move.

"COME ON OUT, WEAPONS DOWN. WE KNOW YOU HAVE HOSTAGES. WE ARE AIMING AND WE _WILL_ FIRE!"

"DON'T SHOOT!" a raspy, weak-sounding male voice said from the inside. "WE ARE COMING OUT, BUT WE'RE UNARMED!"

Everybody stared at one another, the same thought going through everyone's mind: was this a real act of surrendering or was it just a stupid trick to make them let their guard down?

"SHOW US YOUR WEAPONS NOW!"

"WE DON'T HAVE ANY! PLEASE, DON'T SHOOT!"

This time, the voice had been female, and it made Tony's breath hitch in his throat.

A moment later, the silhouettes of two people began taking shape near the main door. The closer they got to the exit, the more their identities became clear to everyone. The closer they got to the lights of the vehicles parked around the building, the more in disbelief everyone became.

Slowly but surely, the two hostages walked out from the building, seemingly in one piece, with Param relying heavily on Pepper to walk. She had his left arm thrown around her shoulders, holding it in place with her left hand in his. Her right arm held him by the waist, her pace as sluggish as the man she was supporting. The headlights made her flinch once she was in full view of everybody present, forcing her to blink several times to compensate for the yet again drastic change in brightness.

"ARE YOU ALONE?" the captain asked, wary of the sudden turn of events.

"We are," the redhead nodded but no longer made an attempt to shout. "They left us. They untied us and left us, hours ago. They're gone. Param… he needs help… he–"

"PEPPER!"

"TONY, WAIT!"

"TONY!"

Happy Hogan was the only person that tried to stop Tony from rushing towards his wife since it was not yet deemed safe for anyone to do so, but he was not even close to being successful in his attempts. The inventor was in front of her in the blink of an eye, helping her support Param while taking in a quick inventory of her wounds.

"Pepper. Oh, God, Pepper! I didn't know! I… what did they do? Did they… did they…"

"No," she replied, tears of happiness in her eyes. "What about you?" her gaze fell on the marks on his neck and face left behind by broken glass. "Oh! Oh, Tony! You're hurt! You're–"

"We'll take him," Param's weight was suddenly off their hands, the officers finally being allowed to jump into action. "We called the paramedics. They're on their way."

"He was beaten," Pepper called after the retreating law enforcement agents. "He was kicked and punched."

"And you?" Tony's hands were on her face now, cradling it and keeping it inches from his; his eyes locked on hers, her hands on his. "Pepper, tell me the truth. Please… what did they do? Are you hurt anywhere? God, your cheek is swollen! Did they hit you, too?"

"Slapped me," the redhead said. "But I'm fine. Other than that, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" he pressed a quick kiss to her lips and then pressed their foreheads together. "Are you sure, baby? Is that all they did?"

"I'm sure, Tony. I'm sure. I promise. I'm sure."

"Pepper, thank God!"

"Happy?" Pepper slightly pulled away from Tony's face and eyed her bodyguard. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to help. Or tried," Happy shrugged, hugging whatever he could of his friend since Tony refused to let go of her completely. "And to keep your husband from getting into trouble. You know how it goes with him."

Despite the situation, Pepper laughed and held Happy's hand. "I know. I do. Thank you."

"Are you–"

"I'm fine," Pepper answered Happy's question before he finished stating it. "Just tired. Hungry. Want to get out of here now."

"OK," Happy nodded, a relieved smile on his face. "Let me go find out what they'll need from us. From you. Probably a statement or something like that. Meet you in the car?"

"Yeah, Hap," Tony replied. "Thanks."

After pressing a kiss to Pepper's forehead, Happy Hogan walked straight towards the captain of the force, leaving the couple on their own to catch up. It took Tony about ten more seconds to find his bearings, but once he did so, he pulled Pepper into a tight hug she was more than willing and happy to give back.

"I thought we wouldn't find you in time. I was so scared, Pepper. I thought you'd…"

"I was scared, too. For you. I didn't know if you'd gotten the worst of the blast. I didn't know if they had you in another room in there. The place is a freaking maze. Took us such a long time to find our way out."

"And the ones that took you? Are they really gone? Just like that?"

"Yeah. Once they figured out who I was… and I told them you were coming for me. They didn't want to deal with that. They cut my ropes and then Param's, and then just ran off."

"Do you remember them? What they looked like?"

"Tony, please," Pepper pulled her head back a little so that she could lock eyes with him. "Don't. They failed. They hardly even touched me. Let the cops here deal with it. Let's just wrap this up, make sure Param's going to be all right, and go to Moscow. That's all I want."

Tony shook his head.

"You know I can't. You know… they took you, Pep. They hurt you. They probably wanted to… They don't get to get away with it. They don't. Don't tell me not to go looking for them. They… _no one_ gets away with doing this to the woman I love. No one. No. One."

Pepper's eyes looked down, unable to hold his angry stare much longer. She knew that he was not mad at her, but at himself and at the men that had taken her and Param. Though, this knowledge did nothing to placate the fast beating of her heart. She knew that his anger was justified – she was angry too, but she also feared it would go over-the-top. The last thing she wanted was for Tony to go into a vengeful rampage. It was against The Accords. It was against his non-combatant contract with S.H.I.E.L.D. It was against everything he had wanted to let live in the past.

"Pepper?" he lifted her face with a hand under her chin. "I need to do this. Set an example. No one kidnaps my wife and goes scot-free."

"But, Tony, you'll get arrested for even trying. You _can't_ do things like this anymore."

Tony gave her a small smile, his heart practically melting at hearing and seeing her concern.

"I can when someone owes _me_ a favor. A big one. It'll be alright."

Pepper looked skeptical for another moment but she then sighed in defeat.

"You promise? You won't get in trouble and you'll come back to me?"

"Always, Pep," Tony pressed a long kiss to her lips before whispering on her mouth. "Always."

xxxXXXxxx

The four men dejectedly sat around an almost crumbling table playing cards. The kidnapping job had not gone as expected, but they at least had escaped with their lives. Had they known that the woman they had accidentally taken with them was Iron Man's wife, they would have called it quits on the spot. Instead, they had wasted time and money that they already did not have.

"At least I wasn't the one that slapped her," one of the men said as he put down his cards, not having a good hand to play.

"Or dragged her by her hair," another man said, eyeing the remaining two men at the table – the ones that had left Pepper with a red cheek and had disheveled her mane.

"It doesn't matter what we did or didn't do," the man that had slapped Pepper defended himself. "We blew the job. We had to let them go. We're gonna have to find another person to take."

"At least Stark's gone," the man that had pulled Pepper by the hair said. "We can try for Param again."

"Nah, I wouldn't risk it. We'll wait a few weeks and try again with someone else."

After grunts of assent from everyone else, the table turned silent again. The three men who still had cards with them debated on whether or not to play their hands while the fourth one, the one that was no longer playing, frowned and looked over his shoulder at something that had caught his attention behind him. It appeared that their neighbor was using their vacuum again, for the third damn time that day. The lights tended to flicker when that happened. It was annoying as hell.

One of the players threw another couple of chips in the middle of the table, daring with an arrogant smirk towards the other two players to give up. The other men seemed to be considering their options, their hands alternating between playing with the last of their chips and tapping their cards against the table; no one wanting to be the one who lost their bluff first. Nevertheless, before any of them was able to make another move or call the increase in the betting pool, the game was interrupted by a loud blast.

One of the concrete walls had just been blown into pieces, sending the men flying off their seats and onto the ground. Behind the screen of smoke and dust, and the debris and rubble that had once been a solid wall, stood a rather pissed off Iron Man.

"You didn't actually think you were gonna get away with it, did you?"

Wide eyes and slack jaws were the four men's only response.

"Yeah," Iron Man took a step towards the cowering men, his fists ready for payback. "That's what I thought."


	10. Chapter 9: Moscow, Part 1

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Thank you for the favorite/follow:** _Trinix216, Vick351, PinkAngel90, XxX italia xXx and AmyLiz9._

 **Guest: I just have a question when pepper gonna tell the secret to tony, and what is tony reaction. I hope the can work it so they don't have to suffer anymore** – I can tell you exactly when that's gonna happen, but it will spoil the whole thing. I can assure you, though, that they will have a happy ending, and that the suffering is going to start lowering in intensity. Full speed ahead now :D

 **Pepperonylove: Whoa! You almost killed me with suspense and worry for Pepper in the last chapter. Good thing she's okay. I thought I would be reading something Pepper whump. Glad she's back safe and sound to her Tony. I love it when Pepper is referred to as Iron Man's 'wife' or Happy telling Pepper I have to control your 'husband'. It just gives me all the feels. Hahaha. I love them married. Hope we could have more fluff! And I would like to thank you for giving us 2 chapters. Wow! Hope everything is okay with you. :) Cheers to Pepperony! (I am still hoping for a baby Stark. Wink wink) haha** – YAY! Order of fluff coming up! I'm doing a lot better, too. It's amazing what a few changes in diet and adding a few vitamins can do to balance your body and mind. Thanks for checking up :D

 **Guest: I LOVE THIS FIC SO MUCH! IT'S BY FAR THE BEST ONE I'VE EVER READ! PLEASE UPDATE SOON** – THANK SO MUCH! I'm happy that you like it. It's been a struggle to get this out. I have a feeling you're going to really like this and the next chapter ^_^

 **Guest: Another great chapter! Can't wait for the next one**. – Here it is! Hope you enjoy it!

 **A/N:** Please note that this fic is rated M for a reason – this chapter… and others to come ;)

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Moscow – Part 1**

 _ **"I know it's a lot to process, Ms. Potts. Take your time."**_

 _The doctor's recommendation sounded like the understatement of the century to her ears. Then again, the medical professional was on point. The news was difficult to process, let alone to accept, if just because it went against her most basic instincts._

 _Pepper closed her eyes and tapped her desk with her left hand, her right one holding onto her cell phone – the only way she could have gotten ahold of her doctor. Sneaking out to see her OB/GYN was becoming an adventure on its own, seeing as Tony was practically shadowing her every step. His paranoia that something would happen to her while he was away, or that someone would try to exert revenge on Iron Man through her, was becoming overbearing. She was practically drowning in a sea of overprotection from the inventor._

 _ **"There are other options,"**_ _the doctor continued on her end of the line,_ _ **"If parenthood is something that you wish to pursue."**_

 _Did she? Did he? Did they, together?_

" _What is the likelihood that I'd ever get pregnant again through natural means?"_

 _ **"To be completely honest with you, with your current lifestyle, very low. Your age is also an important factor that affects you negatively, but most so is the stress level you're under. This is why you've miscarried twice. I… I don't know how to put this lightly, Ms. Potts, but living the life of the significant other to a known superhero doesn't necessarily scream 'fertility support'."**_

 _Of that, Pepper was more than in agreement with the doctor. The first time she had miscarried – right after Tony had carried a nuke through an interdimensional wormhole and had then freefallen to the ground – she had not been too far along and had not even suspected that she was pregnant. Indeed, she had not even known she had miscarried until she had gone for a checkup shortly after, so short a duration had her pregnancy been. The second time, the recent time, she had suspected it and confirmed it, but had held back on telling Tony because he had been so damned stressed after the whole Mandarin and Aldrich Killian fiasco. She had actually been looking forward to telling him about it after she had seen how excited he had been when talking about Harley, the young lad he had teamed up with in Tennessee. But now, Sokovia almost flattening him had ended it all for her, again._

 _"But, what you're saying is that, even if the chances are low, it can still happen. And if it does–"_

 _ **"It would be an extremely high-risk pregnancy. You'd require constant bedrest. Better diet. Virtually no stress. Perhaps take a long sabbatical on a remote island while at it, too."**_

 _No, no, and no. And double-no on the last one. She was Pepper Potts, Stark Industries' CEO. There was no rest or slack allowed for the people who were_ _ **C**_ _onstantly on_ _ **E**_ _xtreme_ _ **O**_ _verdrive._

 _And even if she somehow was able to do all of those things, what would Tony do? He could not just very well drop his responsibilities as an Avenger. He had tried once, and had failed. Because he had wanted to fail, and if he knew a little one was on its way, his obsession with keeping the world safe would surely intensify. He could not take care of her, do avenging on the side,_ _ **and**_ _run the company, all on his own. If she found herself in a delicate condition in which she was no use to him, she could not imagine the type and amount of stress that Tony would live with for the rest of his life. Or her._

 _Nevertheless, they would not be the first or last celebrity people who attempted to raise a family in a dangerous and chaotic world. They at least had the resources to get the support they needed. There were people who wanted them happy and rooted for them. There were people out there, in positions of power and with excellent connections, who would be ready to help them through one of the most life-changing experiences a person could defer to: bringing a new life into the world. If all of these were facts, and if it was as simple as it sounded, then why the hell was she gnawing her bottom lip and felt distraught?_

 _"If I didn't…" Pepper began, almost not believing the words as they came out. "If I decided procreation was not right for me. What would that look like?"_

 _ **"There are many options for that, too. They all come down to what you and your partner decide is–"**_

 _"No. Just me. What are MY options?"_

 _The hesitation on the doctor's part had been almost untraceable, but Pepper had felt the judgement pouring out of the phone during the short moment it had lasted. Fortunately, the doctor provided her medical advice, either way._

 _ **"Tubal ligation is an option. A permanent one."**_

 _"Any down time?"_

 _ **"Minimal. It's an outpatient surgery, but it will require some rest afterwards. For a few days, at least."**_

 _"Risks? Side effects?"_

 _ **"Same as with any surgery. Some risk of infection or complications exist after the procedure, depending on post-care situations. There**_ _are_ _ **other factors to consider, too. Although, I prefer to discuss this with patients in person. Or you could research online and then come see me with specific questions about your case, if you prefer."**_

 _"I do. Yes. I understand."_

 _ **"Would you like to schedule an appointment for this?"**_

 _Did she?_

 _The redhead exhaled and inhaled deeply yet as quietly as possible. She did not want to give the doctor any indication that she was not certain about her decision – even if she was not completely convinced about it herself yet. She had merely called the doctor to follow up on the results of the exams she had taken after finding out she had lost the baby. Now, she was talking about undergoing self-sterilization in the foreseeable future… without discussing it with Tony first._

 _What was the right answer to the question? What was the right thing to do or say? Should she just tell her to book her up for tomorrow or for next week? Or perhaps, to clear up her afternoon so she could see her right now? And what about Tony's role in all of this? Or lack thereof? He had not even brought up the topic of marriage for them. And, as disappointing as it was, bonding with Harley was looking more and more to not be the sign that she had thought it had been. The more she analyzed it, the more she convinced herself that it had_ _ **not**_ _been an indication of him wanting to be a father. That it had been, instead, a way to somehow make up for his own father's mistakes._

 _Nothing had ever been easy for Pepper Potts. And it appeared as if simple biology liked to fuck with her, too._

 _"I know your number," Pepper said after an extensive pause instead of asking the million questions that were going through her mind, unsure that she was ready to face the cruel answers to them all._

 _ **"That you do,"**_ _the doctor replied in a similarly knowing tone, not all disguising the fact that she was aware of the redhead's hesitation._

 _"Thank you for your time, Dr. Adler."_

 _ **"No problem."**_

xxxXXXxxx

 _Proof that Pepper Potts has my heart._

The inscription inside her ring made her recall the inscription in his.

 _I'm all she has too, you know?_

That, he was. And it was extremely self-evident right about now.

He had left the abandoned warehouse where she and Param had been kept during their kidnapping before she had even finished giving her statement to the police. It had been hours since then. The only reason why she was on the Stark jet right now, heading to Moscow by herself, was that Happy had told her that Tony would catch up with her in midair after he was done with her captors.

Pepper scoffed at her superfluous paranoia. Iron Man had faced aliens, gods, and a superpowered AI on steroids and had survived each encounter despite the odds. Four low-ranking criminals who were clearly already pissing their pants by the thought of facing Iron Man were no match to him. However, if that were completely the case, then he would have caught up with her, hours ago.

The ginger felt the urge to get up from the seat and talk to the pilots yet again, to once more ask them how far it was until they landed in Moscow. A quick glance at her phone told her, however, that only five minutes had passed since she had last asked them the same question that she had been asking them nonstop since they had taken off from Dhaka. The two hours that were left was now only one hour and fifty-five minutes. No calculus knowledge was needed to determine that. She was sure the pilots, too, would appreciate her keeping her mouth shut until it was time to land.

She had been supposed to be sleeping to prepare for their meeting with who could be considered the Evel Knievel of the investor group, but she had not been able to get any shut-eye all night. How could she be expected to relax when Tony was out there all alone, playing hero and knight-in-shining-armor for her, with a group of people who, at the very least, knew how to build a bomb?

 _Maybe we should turn the plane around. Maybe he's hurt. Maybe he needs–_

 _"Incoming call from: Tony Stark."_

"Oh, thank God!" Pepper fumbled with her phone as she tried to accept the call. "Tony! Are you alright?"

 _"Stay clear from the side door of the plane, Pep. I'm about to open it up."_

Without hesitation, Pepper strapped herself to the seat she was already in, her eyes glued to the opposing main door to the jet. True to his word, not five seconds later, Iron Man was joining her in the aircraft, his suit coming off him as soon as the door closed behind him.

"Honey, I'm home!"

She could not undo her seatbelt fast enough; her hands trembling uncontrollably the entire time. As soon as she was free of it, however, she ran towards him and met him halfway, her arms curling around his midsection and her face practically merging into his chest. She inhaled his scent with relief and pressed her eyes closed as tightly as her embrace was crushing him. Then, after getting enough of him for now to truly believe he was alive and present before her, she pulled away and held his face in her hands.

"How did it go? Did you find them? Did they hurt you? You didn't get in trouble for it, right?"

Despite the clear signs of concern on her face and tone of voice, Tony could not help but smile at it all as he replied.

"Went well. Found them. Didn't even try to hurt me. Didn't get in trouble at all. They're in the Bangladesh police's custody now."

The relief was evident on her face, but the giddiness did not last long.

"My turn," Tony narrowed his eyes at her. "Did you let the paramedics take a look at you? Did you get any sleep? Did you eat something before you got on the plane? Have you been up all night?"

Pepper opened her mouth and tried to croak an answer, but she snapped it shut when she realized her replies would all be in the negative, so she pressed her forehead against his chest instead.

"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry."

Tony followed her response with a groan of frustration.

"Come on," he pulled away from her but grabbed her left hand. "Let's take a closer look at you in the bathroom."

"I'm fine," Pepper said but did not stop their walk towards the back of the plane, even if she knew that if he saw her bruises, he would probably be compelled to return to Bangladesh and give the men another round of whatever he had already laid upon them who-knew how many times before coming back.

"Then this shouldn't be an issue."

"Tony, no."

"Pepper, yes."

"But–"

"No buts. Except yours. You've got a cute butt. Now place it right there," he pointed towards the lidded toilet seat. "Let me look at these non-issues on you."

Resigning herself to what was to come – and knowing that he would not stop until he was satisfied that she was all right, Pepper let the genius probe as much as he wanted to of her body. He slowly and carefully rolled up and down her sleeves to check her arms, lifted and lowered her night t-shirt ever so slightly to tenderly touch her ribs and make sure none of them were broken or cracked, and then showed the same care to the entire length of her legs; all the while mumbling curses when he saw something he did not like, interspersed with phrases like: _should've punched him harder_ or _should've finished breaking his nose_.

"So, what's the verdict, Doctor? Will I live?"

Instead of chuckling at her joke, he kneeled on the floor, placed his face inches from hers, and then allowed his eyes to follow the path of his right index finger as he lovingly ran it down the side of her face that had been on the receiving end of two vicious slaps.

"I surely hope so," Tony's tone of voice was completely different from the playfully one that he had used just a moment ago. "Because I don't know what I'd do if you didn't."

So many retorts wanted to leave her lips, all of them of a dismissive nature, but the fears and concerns that had been suffocating her since he had left in search for her captors made her keep them to herself. She did not really have it in her right now to make an attempt to ignore his words or the feelings they stirred up in her. They were past that at this point, regardless of the promise she had made to herself when this trip had started. If this trip was the last time she was going to have Tony Stark all to herself before she had to let him go forever – or before he pushed her away after she told him the real reason for their breakup – she was sure as shit going to stop holding back now.

Instead of breaking the moment that she could feel building between them – a moment she would have never afforded herself, just three weeks ago, she pressed their foreheads together and rested her hands on either side of his neck.

"Do I get to make sure you're OK, too?"

"Of course. Whatever you want."

After briefly intensifying the grip she had on him, Pepper pulled back, grabbed both his hands in hers, and made him stand up with her. She then traded places on the floor so that he was now the one in a position to sit down where she had been, and he did not hesitate to be led by her. Just as he had done with her, Pepper took her time and care to check on his injuries, softly caressing them with her fingertips, all the while her treacherous mind provided an image of how each cut and bruise could have come to be. With each terrible possibility that each newly-discovered wound brought to the forefront, her resolve to make sure that he knew how much she loved and cared for him grew. He had been so close to dying or, at the very least, been severely injured, not forty-eight hours ago. By a bomb. Once again. And then, after pushing himself to finding her, he had ventured off into the chase of those who had dared to lay a finger on her, simply because no one who made an attempt at hurting her got to get away with it.

Or live. But for her, and because of the Accords, these particular four ruffians had gotten the chance to live.

"When was the last time you cleaned these scratches?"

"Huh?"

"Some of them are red. Have you cleaned them?"

Tony blinked rapidly as he looked up at her, his ears and his mind having diverging interpretations of what she was currently expecting of him. He had been so spellbound and elated by her attentions and touch, that he had almost not heard her speak at all. In fact, it had all sounded like muffled rambling to him, except for the words _red_ and _cleaned_.

"Oh," Tony's head recoiled when grasping at muddled context became full understanding. "No, I… I guess the doctors helped while I was asleep? I don't… I honestly don't remember, Pep."

"Then that means they need to be cleaned."

"OK," he nodded. "I think there's a first-aid kit under the sink."

"Yeah," Pepper looked away from him, "But… that's not what I meant."

"Huh?" the _highly intelligent_ retort made its appearance again.

When Pepper did not add anything else but instead looked towards the standing shower, it only took Tony two more rapid blinks of his eyes to piece together what the redhead was suggesting. His jaw slacked a little. His tongue darted out to lick his lips. And he then shuddered in anticipation at the obvious invitation she was making to him.

"Oh," Tony repeated his earlier response, to which Pepper simply shrugged. "I, uhm," the genius added as he stood up and nervously rubbed at the back of his neck, hoping to placate his escalating excitement by ensuring he had understood her meaning without a doubt. "You… you wanna go first or…"

Pepper, still not meeting his eyes, tugged at the hem of his shirt. "After everything that's happened, you might need help while in there. I might need help, too."

If there had not been the constant humming caused by the plane being in the air, Tony was sure that Pepper and anyone within a hundred-mile radius would have heard him gulp.

"OK."

Before she lost her nerve, Pepper slowly began lifting his shirt until it was off of him and on the floor, not at all missing the nervous rising and lowering of his chest as she did so. As soon as her hands were off him, the inventor's trembling ones repeated the process with her night shirt, then hovered over her waist for an instant before he clenched his hands and returned his arms to his sides. Feeling the same trepidation that she could see in him, but wanting to go through with what she wanted and what he was willing to give to her, Pepper pushed herself to reach for his belt buckle and started undoing it, only for Tony to suddenly take hold of her wrists before she had the chance to begin sliding it out of the hoops.

"Wait," he breathed and she looked up to him. "I-I can't help it. I'm…"

When he did not continue his explanation, Pepper's gaze trailed from his face to his torso, and then under where their hands were still joined to see the source of his distress. She almost wanted to laugh at his concern but she did not. They had not done this in a long time – or at least not in the way she pictured in her mind that it would play out. Back at Pretoria, it had been done purely out of necessity and she had been mostly still dressed. At the moment, during this very instant, she had no intention for either of them to keep any clothes on before they jumped into the shower together.

"I," she bit back a laugh. "I'd be insulted if it wasn't."

Tony chuckled in relief. "Good. Because when you get those pants down, you're gonna be the opposite of insulted, that's for sure."

Needing to release some of her own pent-up energy, Pepper allowed herself to laugh aloud. Thankfully, Tony did so as well. When the short moment of hilarity ended, however, the air between them changed. Their eyes found the other's and they both became unwilling to break the gaze while they continued to slowly undress one another. With each clothing item that hit the floor, the couple took matching steps towards the shower stall – Pepper walking in reverse and Tony leading her there.

Once they stood by the sliding door, Tony took a moment to start the stream of water, both waiting until it was warm enough before jumping inside. Once there, Tony's back to the showerhead, he took a moment to admire the naked woman before him who was staring at him with a look of total trust that made him want to cry. Unsure as to what he was allowed to do while here, he limited his physical touch to gentle tracing on her face and neck, jumping from there to her palms. He rubbed his thumbs over open hands and then fingertipped his way up her arms and back to her face. He held fondly onto her cheeks as his eyes took in every single one of her freckles before he pressed a firm kiss to her forehead.

Pepper could not recall the last time his touch had felt so positively intoxicating. Sharing a shower had become second-nature to them when they had moved in together. Sometimes, all they had done while there was to shower. Sometimes, they had done way more than that. But even without knowing ahead of time what the purpose of the shower was, it had been a while since it had felt anything close to this. It was as if it were the first time again.

In a way, maybe it was.

When he pulled away from her face, Pepper took her opportunity to return the favor. As opposed to him, she started by running her fingernails over his stomach, slightly dipping into the crevices of the muscles there. Her slow exploration then took her up to his chest and arms, gently raking at his skin as she moved. By the time her eyes and hands reached his face, Tony was clenching his eyes shut and breathing heavily through his nose until a throaty moan escaped his lips when she pressed featherlike kisses to his neck, mostly under his jaw.

"You were right," Pepper whispered into his ear when she felt the distinct evidence of how much he had liked her caresses press against her belly button. "I am the complete opposite of insulted, Stark."

" _Fuck_ ," Tony said between grinding teeth, the palms of his hands flying towards the walls of the shower stall to keep himself standing.

"I'm gonna clean you up now," Pepper said as she took a step back from him to calm herself. Seeing him barely hold back was doing things to her she was not sure she was ready to face just yet. "Is that OK?"

"Yup," it took some effort on his part to say that single word. He did not dare open his eyes as he spoke and wished that he could dig his fingers into the wall.

Tony kept his eyes closed as Pepper worked on lathering and rinsing him, paying special attention to the cuts she could see needed extra care. The water did run grimy for a few spots on his body and his hair, proving to her that it was very likely that he had not taken care of himself since waking up in the hospital. It really did not surprise her, in the least. She was aware that Tony did have a track-record of having tunnel vision when he was focused on finishing up something he thought was important to do; going as far as forgoing providing his body with its basic needs. If Tony Stark could go days without sleep, food, or sex, he surely could go on weeks without a drop of water touching his skin without bothering him the least bit.

His head hung and lolled from side to side when Pepper began massaging the shampoo onto his scalp. He did not even try to stop the moans of pleasure that were leaving him with every move her hands made. It was just too good to pretend he did not enjoy it. He was not going to sound ungrateful to her by keeping inside what clearly wanted to be let out.

"Oh, yeah, right there, Pep. Just… yeah…"

She held back the laugh, but not the smile.

A minute later, she carefully pushed him back under the stream to rinse the remainder of the soap and shampoo. She aided in the task by patting down his body to push along the random suds. Even with the film of leftover soap, the overload of water, and the thick steam that was now surrounding them, Pepper could easily feel the goosebumps forming on his skin at her touch. For good measure, she threw caution to the wind and then slid her hands down, starting from his face and all the way to the top of his feet, touching _every_ single pore as she did so.

When she was done, and after standing straight again, Tony's eyes snapped opened. His hands abandoned their position against the walls and moved to holding onto her hips instead. He was practically hyperventilating, his face inches from her, his voice hoarse with barely restrained desire for her.

"Do I get to help you too?"

A single nod of anticipation was the only response she managed to provide.

Wasting no time, Tony reached behind him for her bottle of body wash. She had expected him to grab her loofa, too, but he did not even bother to get near it at all. Instead, he poured a generous amount of the body wash on his palms and then rubbed them together until foam formed. Before she could fully prepare for his clear intentions, Tony began lathering her body with slow and firm circular motions of his hands, ensuring his thumbs flicked any pert body part they came in contact with.

This time, it was her turn to both suffer by and relish at the contact. And, as he had done, she closed her eyes and focused solely on feeling, trusting him to know what to do and how to do it just right.

He started with her neck and shoulders, delicately massaging and partly raking them as he went; grinning to himself when Pepper threw her head back to give him more access. Her arms were then the recipients of similar ministrations while being overly cautious of the bruises he had previously found there. He followed suit by working his way up her stomach and sides, and then onto her chest, taking his sweet time with her breasts as he watched her lick and bite her lips due to the feeling the touch was igniting in her.

Pepper held back a whimper of disappointment when he finally switched to lathering her back, but she then almost immedicably cried in pleasure when his fingers pressed against the bottom part of it, putting pressure on spots she had not been aware were sore. She welcomed more of his touch by pressing the fronts of their bodies together, her forehead dropping to his left shoulder and her hands grabbing onto his waist. Having more room to work with, Tony's hands slowed to an agonizingly gratifying rate as he lathered her buttocks and the top part of her thighs, shivering in pleasure himself when a sudden jerk of her body at his touch made her stomach rub against his manhood.

His hiss was the only warning she got before she was turned around and her back got pressed against his front, effectively smothering his current problem away. His hands returned to her shoulders and then worked their way down again, soap still in his palms, taking all he had in him to continue with his original task. She had been able to clean him up with no problem. He could do the same for her.

When one of his hands took residence far below her navel, Pepper's left arm went behind herself and around his neck. Her nails scratched at his scalp and she worried her bottom lip, trying her best not to scream out in delight. He did not try to get her anywhere she could not hope to get to completely, but he also did not show any hesitation in giving her as good as she had given him. If this was all there was going to be to it, he would make sure that she was satisfied with whatever she did get.

Not wanting to break the spell she was clearly under, Tony slowly started walking backwards with her until most of her body was under the stream. He continued lavishing her with a combination of soft and firm caresses as he rinsed her thoroughly, adding to them the random suckling of skin on the right side of her neck. When he was not helping the water move the soap along, one of his hands took turns with her breasts and the other remained below her waist, applying just enough pressure to chase away whatever thoughts tried to pry her mind away from what she was enjoying. There had been enough tormenting and worrying in the past few days to last them a lifetime. All he wanted for her to do now was to _feel_.

And what she was starting to feel was a growing need that would not be satiated with what he was doing now. She needed more. So much more. And she needed it right now.

Her free hand went in between their bodies, grasping at the air until she found what she was looking for. He groaned loudly near her ear when she surrounded him, but she did not care that her eardrum had hurt a little. The knowledge that it had been her actions that were causing him, the most eloquent man on the planet, to be forced to use nothing more than grunts and moans to communicate what he was feeling, filled her with pride and joy.

"I'm ready," she said, her hand still working him without mercy. "Please, Tony. I'm ready."

His next groan sounded like a war cry, but it was simply him letting go of the little restrain he had been clinging onto before being allowed free range. Without warning or a word, Tony turned her so that they were face-to-face again, hitched her up by snaking his arms around her thighs, and then lifted her. He took the two steps that separated her back from the wall, pressed her against it, and locked lips with her.

Pepper kissed him back without abandon, though she was slightly annoyed that he was yet to prepare for reaching their final destination. He was very close to it, teasing her and himself with the near-hits of the jackpot, which only served to drive them both wild. She tried to get herself where she needed to be by surrounding his waist with her legs and clamping her feet together at her ankles, but the man would simply not budge. It had been such a long time for the both of them. Such, a _very_ long time. And, if it were up to her, they would have been done by now.

As sudden as the kiss had started, it ended, leaving them both panting and staring into each other's eyes; Tony silently asking her with his gaze one last time if she was sure about what was about to happen between them. She did not have to say anything in response, not even nod. The lustful look in her eyes told him everything that needed to be said. With strength that always took her by surprise, Tony hitched her up a little higher. He pinned her arms above her head and against the wall by holding her wrists together with one hand, and then they both fell in a tangle of limbs when the jet plummeted five feet down and then corrected back its original altitude in the time it took to blink an eye.

"Fucking shit!" Tony was the first one to recover from the unexpected turn of events, his body under Pepper's, having swapped their landing positions as they had hit the floor of the shower stall. "Pepper, are you hurt? Pep!"

The redhead was still in somewhat of a daze, trying to compute the fact that she had been ready to be joined with Tony's body but was now laying awkwardly on top of him instead. She shook her head a few times, looked all around her to center herself, and then slowly nodded to the inventor.

She cleared her throat. "What was that? What happened?"

Tony helped the ginger stand up and then immediately shut down the showerhead. His retort died on his lips when the warning alarm of the jet blared, making them both flinch and briefly cover their ears at the hideousness of the sound. The alarm lasted for only about three seconds, and it was followed by the pilot's voice.

 _"Mr. Stark. Mrs. Stark. Sorry to wake you up. We're ten minutes inbound, but we're gonna have to go through a minor storm to land. Please find a seat and strap yourselves in. It's going to be extremely bumpy until we touch the ground."_

Not a millisecond after Tony echoed Pepper's own thoughts, the plane shook yet again, more violently this time, and Tony had just enough time to brace himself against the wall and pull Pepper's body towards his to keep them from kissing the floor a second time. The turbulence this time around was worse than the last, and it took three more continuous shakes for them to have an opportunity to unsteadily walk out of the shower.

 _"Mr. Stark? Did you copy?"_

"Yeah," Tony screamed at the two-way speaker as he caught a towel that Pepper had just thrown his way. "We're on it. We're heading there."

 _"Copy, Mr. Stark."_

The plane dipped again.

"Ah!"

"Fuck!"

They dried their bodies as best as they could, given the now almost-constant frightening dipping of the plane. They held onto whatever they could on their way to their bedroom, messily throwing on clean, dried clothes when they finally got there. Their previous ones had been soaked by the steam and then by their dripping bodies when they had haphazardly exited the shower. The last thing they wanted at a time like this was running the risk of sliding off their seats due to wet clothing.

"Are you ready?" Tony extended his right arm towards Pepper and she held onto it without hesitation.

"Yes."

"Come on."

The walk to the cabin was difficult; even worse than it had been to get from the bathroom to the bedroom. The closer they got to landing, the worse the conditions were, and the more Tony wished that he had not deactivated the links he had put in his body to remotely connect to his suit. If things went south, literally and metaphorically, he would need to make use of the suit quick, fast, and in a damn hurry. Without that link being available any longer, it would be a bitch to get to his only currently available suit up and running if the plane could not stay leveled for more than two seconds. Images of a dream that had somewhat warned him of the present situation flashed before his eyes, but he shook his head and focused on his hand in Pepper's to find his way back to reality – where he needed to stay rooted in order to be of any use to her.

They barely made it to their seats and strapped their belts on before the worst dip of them all made them scream. Loud. And they could have sworn they had also heard their pilots curse, too. That was definitely not a good sign, and neither was it when the lights inside the entire plane flickered until they turned off.

" _Five minutes until touch down. Please remain seated and calm."_

Tony inwardly groaned at the pilot's instructions even though he was aware that the man was just doing his job. What other options were there than keeping their butts firmly attached to the seats? Resemble a pinball machine and touch every surface inside the plane? Try to build a house of cards while waiting for the plane to land? Attempt to have sex in the shower with his damned wife?

OK. Maybe the last one was not _that_ bad.

Their hands remained linked as they sat there, both silently hoping and praying that the worst had come to pass. And both in disbelief that, just minutes ago, they had been in bliss, having a rather hot and steamy shower together, only to now be fearing for the lives. Much to their chagrin, they had to admit that the entire situation was rather in tune with how their lives were. Peachy one moment, and the perfect example of a major clusterfuck the next.

Tony turned to his right, his eyes still adjusting to the gloominess, but he was able to somewhat make out the outline of Pepper's face. She was staring right back at him, her eyes shining brightly even in the dark, and he was certain that the same look of regret and fear that he could feel on his face was the same look on hers. The swift realization that his panicked demeanor was probably not sending off vibes of confidence to someone who was already terrified made him school his features. He plastered a smile on his face, manage to wink at her, and then further tightened his grip on her hand.

"We're gonna be alright," Tony ran his thumb over hers, his voice sounding too confident compared to how he really felt.

" _Three minutes until touch down."_

The thought of having to wait three minutes had never sounded so inhumanly possible to him.

The wind resistance was starting to increase and, with it, the remnants of the plane's stability were thrown out the door. The plunging was now escorted by intense tilting along the jet's vertical axis, making the Stark airliner the most extreme amusement ride he had ever ridden; and that was counting being manhandled by The Hulk. His ears popped when he felt the cabin pressure changing, which prompted the redhead's breathing pattern to become erratic. He had no problem hearing Pepper fight for breath – it was actually a guilty pleasure of his, but only if it was due to what they had almost finished doing in the shower. This was a different kind of gasping for air that she was struggling with, and he was almost powerless to stop it.

Not being able to find any other way to provide her with some comfort, he clumsily tilted his head until he was able to barely brush his lips against hers for a second before yet another round of turbulence took hold of the plane and pulled them apart.

"Jesus!" he huffed. "We haven't even landed and we're already having an adventure, huh, Pep?"

Pepper closed her eyes and nodded sharply, too focused on keeping her empty stomach from thinking it was a good idea to become even emptier with how much the plane was shifting. She was not one to become easily seasick – or _air_ sick, for that matter; dating a flying superhero made you incredibly tolerant of heights – but the situation at hand was really trying to weaken that resolve. Tony could tell that her self-control was hanging by a thread, but fuck it if he knew exactly what to do to make it better for her.

So, he did the only thing he _could_ do when he did not know what _to_ do. He talked.

"Think we can tell Anton that this was our adventure and call it even?"

Pepper chuckled in disbelief, knowing that Anton would probably call this turbulence a warm-up. She shook her head slightly, but did not verbally respond.

Tony huffed, counting down in his head the seconds until it was all over. "I'm still counting on him thinking that marriage in and of itself is an adventure, and that he'll cut us some slack because of it."

This time, all Pepper did was rest her forehead against his right shoulder. He was unsure if that was a good sign or not, but at least she had not told him to shut up. Or maybe she was yet to do so because she was physically unable to.

He opened his mouth to say something else, whatever came to his mind first, but he decided against in the end. Instead, he pressed the side of his face against the top of hers, closed his eyes, and placed random kisses on whatever part of her he could reach. Whatever he could not, he caressed with his cheek or his nose, opening his mouth again only to tell her how much he loved her.

The sound and feeling of the wheels hitting the runway surprised them both. They then held their breath as the plane started slowing, releasing a sigh of relief only when it finally came to a stop. The humming of the turbines started decreasing in intensity, and with it so did the almost imperceptible vibration they caused on everything inside the plane. Some of the lights in the cabin turned on. The subtle ding of the PA system came to life, and it preceded Captain Jonas telling his two passengers that they had landed and that everything was all right.

Even as everything around them told them the crisis had finally come to a close, neither of them moved an inch. They needed a moment to reign in their emotions and gain full control of their bodies. A moment to give their brains and rational thought an opportunity to override reactions born out of fear and basic survival instincts kicking into gear. A fleeting instant in time for them to bask in the luck they had.

Five minutes later, when the two pilots came out of the cockpit, Tony was carrying an emotionally exhausted Pepper Potts in his arms and towards the back of the plane, hoping that he could make her rest while he got them ready to call a cab.

xxxXXXxxx

Anton Mikhailov took another long sip of his bottle of vodka and shook his head at this two business partners, trying to fully process everything they had gone through before coming to Moscow, while simultaneously trying not to sound too envious of their amazing journey. From having a business meeting at a strip club to being kidnapped by would-be terrorists, all in a matter of weeks; it just seemed so unfair to the man that he had to try so hard to find thrill in his life, and Tony and Pepper simply sat back and let it fall into their laps.

Life was so biased, indeed. Tony lived the life Anton wished he could have.

"And then the landing wasn't the best, either," Pepper admitted, the bottle of vodka subtly calling her name after being forced to recall their mishaps to a too-eager-to-listen man.

"We had some awful turbulence because of the storm," Tony explained. "Thought I'd have to suit up and help keep the plane together so it could _crash_ land."

"And even though I hate it when he has to put on that suit, I was _this_ close to pushing him _and_ the armor outside the cabin door to make sure the plane stopped shaking so much."

The redhead's confession took the inventor by surprise. She had barely said a word during the last of the turbulence and not much since they had jumped inside the cab. He had thought that it had been because maybe she was starting to feel awkward about their failed attempt at having sex, but he was now starting to wonder if maybe it was just the dreadful aftermath of coming to terms with the fact of having been really close to biting the big one. He had become so accustomed to being on the verge of death, that sometimes he forgot that the feeling was not considered common. Or that normal people reacted to their life flashing before their eyes the way Pepper was behaving right now. Hell, he had looked that wild-eyed too once, after the wormhole incident, so he should have known better than that. Perhaps his lack of hyperbolic reaction was simply just a sign that he was past his PTSD. At least that was something he could be happy about.

"Well, _shit_! You two have more adventure than I can find!"

The man possessed both the broken English dialect and the drawling Russian accent of many English-speaking actors playing the part of a stereotypical Russian from any action/thriller of the 80s and 90s, yet Anton imbued it with a level of charm that made it clear that he was the real deal.

"Or that we _care_ to find," Tony rubbed his forehead with his left hand over a small bruise that he had not realized he had earned when falling to the floor in the shower stall until now.

"And that is saying much, since you fight crime as hobby, for fuck's sake."

"I wouldn't call it a hobby," Tony tried to defend himself, but then Pepper threw him a pointed look of disbelief. "OK, fine. Maybe I do. A little."

"This why I like ya, Stark. You can face a mighty tiger and smile!"

"Yeah, sure. I… wait… That's… that's not what you want us to do this time around, right?" Tony flinched. "I think the anacondas took the joy of wrestling wildlife out of me."

"Ah! No, of course not, _comrade_. We're not wrestling wildlife this time."

Pepper and Tony inwardly sighed in relief.

"We're _hunting_ life," Anton added after a pause.

"Huh," Tony was presently surprised and exchanged a hopeful look with Pepper. "A hunting trip? I think… that… that sounds nice. Hunt. I can hunt. We…. We're still talking about _wild_ life, right?"

" _Nyet_ , Stark. We're hunting the _feeling_ of life! Of _being_ alive. Of you and the missus surviving near crash landing. And all the other bullshit that came before that."

"OK?" Tony gulped. "And how-how… how _exactly_ are we doing that, may I ask?"

"Elbrus," Anton said with pride.

"Elbrus?" Tony scratched his cheek, "Is that the name of a creepy uncle of yours, by any chance?"

Anton gave him a hearty laugh. "No, Tony. _Mount_ Elbrus. We're gonna climb it. Blind."

Tony's eyes widened as he slowly nodded. "Blind? Blind. Because… because we're gonna be blindfolded the whole time we hike or because you're gauging our eyes out?"

Anton laughed again, this time showing his amusement with Tony's humor by patting him hard on the back.

"Your husband is joker, isn't he? Bet he makes you laugh often."

"Among other things," Pepper said with a forced smile that she suddenly dropped when she realized how her response might have sounded lewd to an already riled up, adventure-seeking, sex-crazed man. "I meant headaches. He gives me a lot of headaches, too."

"Right. And I bet he also takes them away as easily as he gives them," Anton chuckled. "Remedy for headache is easy. Cheap. Can be done in back of car."

"Or during a hiking trip," Tony interjected before Anton could make the moment more embarrassing than it already was. "We're staying in separate cabins, right?"

"Cabins?" Anton scoffed. "Is for pussies. We're taking the uncharted trail up the mountain and staying in tents. You know, if weather doesn't think it better for us to plummet to our deaths. Can get pretty windy up there. Cold as fuck, too."

"So… so you've been there before? Not totally uncharted, then?" Pepper asked with hope.

"Once. Months ago. Can't wait to go back."

"How did it go? How was the way back?" Tony asked, even though he was fearing the response.

Anton shrugged. "Couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. I fell, broke both my legs and passed out in pain. My crew came looking for me when I didn't report myself on time. Woke up in hospital with stupid casts keeping me there. Just took them off last week. Timely that you two show up now."

"Yeah, sure. Timely. No medical restrictions, then? Physical therapy or something?"

"Of course not. Physical therapy is for–"

"Pussies, yeah," Tony finished for the man. "So, we're both going to this thing? Me and Pepper?"

"Of course! You're package deal now."

"Right. Package deal."

"Unless," Anton gave the redhead a once over, "Is the missus fit to go? You aren't expecting, Mrs. Stark?"

"If she were," Tony jumped in. "Would that excuse us from this? Because, as far as I know, there's no bun in the oven. But I can put one in there, _right now_."

As expected, Anton laughed aloud again. Of course, he would think Tony was joking.

"Go get your things ready. You're both gonna need some better clothes. Winter storms still a thing in June where we're going. I send you list of what you need in terms of clothes. I got hiking gear. Best in class."

"Was that _best-in-class_ gear what you were using when you broke your legs?"

Anton frowned, seriously considering Tony's question, and then huffed. "You make point. Bring your own gear. I need to go buy fucking new ones."

"So, we're doing this?" Tony inhaled. "We-we-we're doing this."

"I pick you up at midnight. To get to top summit where we start hike, we need to take cable car. It leaves at 2."

"In the afternoon?"

"In the morning. Takes while to get there."

"Ohhhkay," Tony swallowed hard. "Midnight. Cable car. 2 AM. Winter storm. Best-in-class. Broken legs. Okay. Sure."

"Don't think too much about, Tony. You're getting off easy on this one."

"Are we?" Pepper could not hold back the snide tone of her voice. "Are we now?"

"Well, of course. Only one day of fun. That's all. We sleep there that night and come right back to talk business. One day, and you get to walk away with three times my initial investment. Call it: a late wedding gift."

"Three times?" Pepper blinked rapidly. "Anton, is that the vodka talking? Because vodka can't sign contracts."

"HAHAHAHA!" Anton stood up from the table, picked up his backpack with him, and then rummaged inside of it as he spoke. "You too have sense of humor. You lucky son of a bitch, Stark. The missus is whole package."

"Yeah, I–"

"Here," Anton finally found what he had been looking for and threw the folder on the table. "Contract's signed and ready. You only have to go with me tomorrow and we call it done."

Hating to look distrusting of their most blunt investor, but needing to know how much of his drunken words were true, Pepper pulled the folder towards her and skimmed the documents held inside. She searched for the main sections on it that would either confirm or deny Anton's offer, and found them all to be there and on point. As she slid the folder towards Tony for him to have a look of his own, Pepper was not sure what she had preferred to have seen printed there instead: an indication that hiking a mountain was just a joke, or a sign that the investment was smaller than the initial one without any other strings attached. Either one would have been better options for them.

"You're staying where you always do?" Anton asked as he strapped on his backpack behind him and took out the keys to his motorcycle from his pants. How he expected to be sober enough to drive after drinking two bottles of vodka was beyond them.

"Yup," Tony replied, wondering how much of a bad person it made him to hope Anton had a minor accident on his way home that left him with casts on his legs again.

"Alright. See you in few hours, then. Thank you for the stories. Bring more for hike."

After a twitchy wink towards Tony and a respectful yet rickety bow of his head towards Pepper, Anton Mikhailov walked towards his bike and sped away from the parking lot, leaving the couple to face the hand that had just been dealt to them.

Then again, it was just hiking and it was just _one_ day, right.

 _What could possibly go wrong with that?_

"Famous last words, Tony," Pepper said as she all but melted into her chair in a pose of defeat, her arms lazily crossing over her chest.

"True," Tony swallowed hard. "Wait, did I say that out loud?"

"Nope," Pepper shook her head. "But I can read your mind. Sometimes."

"Can you read it right now?"

He playfully narrowed his eyes at her, as if they were both not hours away from joining Marco Polo's drunken cousin on his quest to climb and explore fucking Mount Doom to try to _recover_ the damned ring from the lava pits.

Pepper smiled. "Yes, Tony. I also don't think climbing Mount Doom with Gollum is any worse than this."

The look of shock and fear that briefly crossed Tony's eyes made her release the first honest laugh since their arrival.

"Holy shit," Tony gulped, his eyes unable to return to their normal size. "I'm seriously so hot for you right now."

"Save the feeling," Pepper said as she stood up from the table, not looking forward to their trip but knowing they did not have much time to get ready for it. "I hear it's gonna be _cold as fuck_ where we're going tonight."

"Body heat, Honey," he smirked, jogged towards her, and then held her hand. "That's how we'll survive."

"That's how we'll survive," she reluctantly agreed with a roll of her eyes.

* * *

 **A/N:** Watched _Homecoming_ on Friday. Totally recommend it. Best Spider-Man movie I've seen in a looooong time. Tom Holland killed it as much as he did when he danced to _Umbrella_. **SPOILER ALERT:** MoviekindamakesthisficsomewhatirrelevantIhopeitdidnttkillitforyou.


	11. Chapter 10: Moscow, Part 2

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 **Pepperonylove: It's me again. hahaha. I hope you update soon, dear. :)** – HEY! I'M HERE! I LIIIIVE :P 3

 **A/N:** So, this chapter got away from me, so I had to split it up. We'll now have a Moscow – Part 3 :D

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Moscow – Part 2**

 _ **Let's go hiking**_ _, he said_ _ **. It'll be fun**_ _, he said._

To be completely fair to Anton, he had never specified who would be at the receiving end of said fun. Moreover, he had also never _defined_ the intended meaning of the word _fun_. Fun for the Russian meant being chased by a cheetah, a tiger, a lion, and a rhino… at the same time. While on an ice rink. Trying to outrun them without legs.

But he _had_ at least warned them of the terrible weather conditions they were sure to face once on _Mount Doom_ , and he had also given them pointers on what to do when facing imminent danger in the middle of a possibly upcoming winter storm, even if it was forecast to hit ten to twenty miles away from their camp. _One for the books_ , as Anton had so cheerfully put it, despite being in the middle of June. One that could be survived only if proper shelter was found before or shortly after it hit. This last piece of sound advice was what made carrying himself, his backpack, Pepper's backpack AND Pepper herself – despite the large, bleeding gash that cut along his left calf – completely worth the pain, the bitter cold, and the crippling exhaustion he could feel deep in his bones.

With the amount of blood that he had, at first, been leaving behind with every step he took, he was surprised that he was yet to pass out. Or attract a random Yeti wandering the area, looking for some easy lunch, for that matter. Because this was what they were both reduced to at the moment. Easy prey. Walking dead. Talking corpses. Future popsicles. Names eligible to be used for new high schools or major boulevards.

Damn it all. All the times that he had made fun of Steve Rogers for being frozen in ice, and he and Pepper were now faced with the same fate. The only difference was that Tony doubted either of them would make it out of it alive, if it came to it.

His arms had been trembling for the past few minutes, unsure if it was more due to the icy winds that pelleted them both with snow or if it was because they were going numb with the weight they carried. It was not as if carrying Pepper was something he had ever struggled with. However, with the added pounds of the backpack and the thick clothes – and the fact that she was yet to wake up – her body was even heavier than it should have been had she been conscious. She was limp and pale-looking. And as much as he wanted to stop yet again to check the bump on her forehead and her pulse, he knew that, at this rate and in this weather, the next time he stopped he would probably not be able to get back up again.

Alas, as the thought crossed his mind, it instantly became evident to him that he would not be given a choice in the matter, after all. As if on cue, his legs suddenly gave up under him and sent him to fall on his knees. He had not realized how much of his cargo his legs had been helping him support, so the moment he hit the snow-covered ground, Pepper nearly slid from his arms.

"Whoa! Hey, I got you, baby," his voice was ragged but he spoke with as much confidence as he could muster. "I got you."

Seeing as his body had decided to force him to stop, Tony readjusted Pepper's body and pressed it even closer to his, hoping to keep hers as warm as he could. The outer layers of their clothes were soaking wet, courtesy of the relentless weather that kept him from finding his way back to their camp. He was sure Anton would be looking for them at some point, as would anyone else the Russian man could recruit for an impromptu rescue mission. But before any of that took place, before the only other person that knew they were in a dire situation made any effort to find them, Anton first had to save himself.

If he was even alive, that was.

Tony hopelessly looked up to the dark sky, the wind howling in his ears without mercy. He doubted that any attempt at finding them was taking place right now – it was too dangerous for anyone or anything to even try. Their entire chance for survival at the moment was to find shelter somewhere – a place to set up their extra tent or a small cave within the mountain itself, and wait until the storm let up. They had enough snacks for a week in their packs, a first-aid kit, a portable heater, and some other basic items that they could use to settle down while they were found. None of it really mattered, however, if they could not find a place to hole up soon.

If there was anything positive about being exposed to the elements right now, nonetheless, was that it had slowed down the flow of blood from his injury, and that it had also made it feel somewhat numb. He was sure that he would probably need to clean it and stitch it shut or, at the very least, wrap it in gauze as tightly as it could be. Walking in knee-deep snow in the middle of a winter storm was difficult enough when enjoying full health. If he wanted to get himself and Pepper out of here, once she woke up, he had to minimize the impact his wound could have on their way back down. The last thing he wanted was to be the reason why Pepper tripped or fell to the uninviting precipice below. Once the weather cleared, all they had to do was find one of those zip lines Anton had talked about – the ones that had been installed for anyone who did not find themselves physically able to climb down.

Tony shook his head violently when he felt his eyes starting to droop. He was uncertain if he had been exposed to the elements for a long enough time to start developing hypothermia already, but he was going to fight the urge to fall asleep either way. This was one particular medical theory he had no interest in putting to the test.

"Just a little more," he reminded himself as he struggled to keep his eyes open and his arms from trembling. "Just need to get to the edge of the mountain. Camp there."

 _Or go back in time. Keep my suit connected to my ass!_

The Mark XLII would have gotten them out of this predicament in a heartbeat. He was sure of it.

He dropped his gaze to Pepper's face and he noticed that a little bit of snow was covering whatever of it was exposed. He bent her upper body a little so that he could somewhat protect her by pressing her against his chest and then brushed snowflakes from her face and hair. The temperature was falling quickly and it was making it difficult for him to move with full capacity of his limbs. He had already transferred two of his jackets to Pepper, in a senseless hope that since he kept moving, he would not be as cold. Nevertheless, the solution had only made Pepper feel heavier and his body feel colder.

"Shit," Tony shook his head when he realized he had closed his eyes for nearly a minute, and then slapped his face a couple of times to regain some consciousness.

 _Can't sleep… can't… sleep… can't…_

With trembling and protesting limbs, he grunted as he stood up with Pepper in his arms. He wobbled in place for a few seconds, dizziness suddenly making an appearance, so he waited until he could feel stabilized. He closed his eyes to force his mind to focus and, once they were open again, he took one step before he collapsed once more.

"Dammit… I… damn…"

He tried to hold his weight up by using his arms, but they went right through the pile of snow, pushing not only him but also Pepper further into the white and frigid dust of death. He then attempted to use his knees to help with the task, but the result became the same.

His eyes fell onto Pepper's face yet again, the unsuspecting redhead pinned underneath him, fear at last striking within him at the sight. She was still out cold, figuratively and literally, and fully dependent on him to make it out alive from this. Yet, he was not strong enough to do anything to help her anymore. Not smart enough and too tired to come up with an action plan. He had been walking them in circles, for all he knew. He could not hope to save her if he could not even save himself.

Oh, the irony of it all: to survive the wrath of aliens and demigods, only to be taken down by frozen water and wind.

If he had had any energy left in him, he would have yelled at the storm to bend over and fuck off. But it was a miracle that his heart was still beating. And it was an even bigger miracle that so was hers.

"I got you," the genius repeated his hollow promise as he was slowly taken away from reality altogether despite his best efforts to stay awake, his eyes closing and his body finally shutting down on him. "I got you, babe."

Question was: who had him?

xxxXXXxxx

 _"Goodnight, you lucky bastards!"_

 _Anton's wishes were the last thing they heard from the man before Tony zipped closed their tent. It was nearly midnight and they were exhausted, but their curious investor had not been able to contain his excitement at hearing the detailed stories of the adventures of what he had dubbed_ Team Iron Man _. From how Pepper had infiltrated her own company to get dirt on Obadiah, to how Tony had built a particle accelerator in his basement to create a new element. Every single thing the couple had shared with Anton had been nothing short of spectacular and vodka-shot worthy. As far as Anton was concerned, the Starks had the most exciting lives ever._

 _Thankfully, after hours of storytelling, it was finally time to sleep. And, in just a few hours, their end of the deal would be completely fulfilled and they could head the hell out of this shitty Winter Wonderfuck, once and for all._

 _"I thought he'd never shut up," Tony grumbled as he slid inside the sleeping bag he would be sharing with Pepper._

 _"Now you know how I've felt around you for so many years."_

 _Tony gasped dramatically and placed his hand over his chest. "You can't be serious? I can't be as bad as he is!"_

 _"No, you're not."_

 _"Let me guess: I'm worse."_

 _"Hey! You're a mind reader, too!"_

 _"Oh, shush and go to sleep already!" Tony groaned but still pulled the redhead's body closer to his._

 _"I'm trying, but there's some guy that just won't stop talking."_

 _"Potts, thin ice, OK? Thin. Ice."_

 _Not at all threatened or insulted by Tony's annoyance or words, Pepper smirked, curled her body tighter and then pressed her back flush against Tony's chest. The genius reciprocated the move by tightening his grip around her waist and nuzzling his face into her neck. Neither of them made a move or said a word for about a minute until Tony shivered and moaned._

 _"Good grief! Why is it SO cold? I'm afraid I'm gonna wake up with frostbite!"_

 _"Same here," Pepper admitted. "Good thing the winter storm is going a different way, huh? Can you imagine those kinds of wind chills? I can't even process what it must feel like. And I'd rather not find out, either."_

 _"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss the Pretorian heat."_

 _"And I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd rather be in that abandoned warehouse in Dhaka again. It was warm."_

 _"I should've brought my damn suit. I could've used it as a radiator or something."_

 _"Or as a way to get us both out of here while Anton still slept. He'd forgive us, right?"_

 _"At this rate, he'd probably just care that Iron Man gave him a ride."_

 _"Sounds to me like you have a fan."_

 _"You mean:_ another _fan? Because I have plenty."_

 _"You have plenty of everything," Pepper rolled her eyes. "But not of blankets. Not right now. I'd trade your fans for blankets. All the blankets."_

 _"That's a lot of blankets."_

 _"It's a LOT of cold."_

 _"Yup," Tony agreed and then threw his left leg over Pepper's. "But we can't exchange humans for cloth because of the damned human rights activists. So, let's make do with what we have, Potts."_

 _"And what is that?"_

 _"Us."_

 _"Body heat, you mean?"_

 _"Hell, yeah. Body heat."_

xxxXXXxxx

The storm appeared to finally be dying down. The time between the presence of wind gusts that almost rattled the tiny, godsend of a shelter was extending to several minutes now. It was still dark outside, and even from the frozen window near the top of the metal living quarters, it was clear that a little bit of snow was still falling. There was no heater inside what could essentially be deemed an unfinished, walk-in closet on the small end of the size scale, but at least not being outside in the middle of a decaying winter storm improved their chances of survival. Nevertheless, being inside the _only_ emergency shelter located on Mount Elbrus – one that she had stumbled upon by accident after being jolted awake by Tony heavily landing on her – had not improved Tony's state thus far.

Her fingers were still red and raw from having to take off her gloves to get a better grip on his damp clothes to drag him inside. She was sure the skin on her face was in the same state, but her entire bottle of body lotion was as solid as a rock. She was shivering all-to-be-damned, but she knew that Tony needed all the clothes and blankets she could spare. Their portable heater was not working – the battery probably dead due to the cold. She had no clue how long they had been out there – she hardly remembered how they ended up out there in the first place. But she was sure as shit that even if it had been only an hour or two, it had been enough. Harsh weather conditions were especially unforgiving to humans. People were just not built to withstand what other species on the planet could brush off without a second thought.

Tony had been practically lifeless since their arrival to the shelter, the _Red Fox 5300_ , save for some random mumbling in his delirious sleep. While everything she could tell from her limited knowledge in medicine said that he was probably going to be all right after she got some painkillers and fever-reducers in his system, he was yet to wake up to confirm this belief for her.

How she had been able to stop trembling long enough to tend to the wound on his calf was beyond her. How he had gotten it, was an even bigger mystery. The last thing she recalled before waking up in a pile of snow with a passed out Tony on top of her was opening her eyes after only a few hours of sleep in their tent. He had been practically crushing her with his grip and it had woken her up. Nonetheless, the confession he had made to her at that moment had pained her deeper than any bear hug of his ever could.

xxxXXXxxx

 _"Can't… breathe…"_

 _"What? Oh, shit!"_

 _Tony immediately eased his embrace on her. He had not been aware that the fear of the nightmare that had startled him awake was hurting her. But it had felt so real, again. The familiar environment had brought it all back to the forefront of his mind. The bitter cold and bad memories threatened to yet again freeze and break his heart._

" _Sorry, Pep! Sorry!"_

 _"It's okay," the redhead assured him with a mumble as her head bent back ever so slightly to try to make out his face in the dark. "You OK?"_

 _"Yeah," Tony bowed his head and pressed his forehead against her neck._

 _Pepper narrowed her eyes at him even if he was not looking at her. Even as she slowly woke up, she was aware enough to tell that his retort had come out too quickly; too forced – a sure sign that Tony was withholding something important from her. She had thought that they were past that; or at least a little bit more comfortable with showing vulnerability to each other, even if there were still some secrets between them. Yet, whatever he was currently struggling with, was big enough for him to momentarily resort to his old ways. And that scared her – so much – because they had come too far to lose it all again without a fight._

 _She debated on whether or not to call him out on his obvious lie, but she did not have to waste the time or the energy in doing so. After a long sigh and the tightening of his arms around her, the inventor willfully confessed what had woken him up in the middle of the night._

 _"I was here, not long ago. On the other side of the country, but I was here. In the middle of the bitter cold, too. Just like now."_

 _Pepper grunted an acknowledgement to let him know that she was awake and listening, but she did not dare speak up, afraid that he would stop letting out what he clearly needed to share with her. With anyone that would listen, perhaps._

 _"After I realized Cap had been right all along, I ended up in Siberia. Sam told me that Steve and Barnes were headed there to stop Zemo. Do you remember Zemo?"_

 _Their late conversation atop a limousine in Madrid came rushing back to her. "Yeah. I do."_

 _"Well, we… for a moment… Hydra…" his voice trailed until it was barely a whisper._

 _Pepper slowly turned in place and slid her arms around his midsection when she realized he was struggling to order his thoughts – perhaps hesitant that others would listen to what they were not meant to hear._

" _Hey. No rush. We got all night. Just you and me. I can hear Anton snoring from here. He won't hear this."_

 _Tony smirked. "I think that's the wind, Pep."_

 _"Really?" the ginger scrunched up her nose. "That's loud!"_

 _"I guess a little bit of the storm is hitting us after all."_

 _"Think they'll find our bodies tomorrow?"_

 _"If we're lucky."_

 _Following Tony's jesting response, the tent shook violently, making their quipping not as amusing as it had been seconds ago._

 _"Did you bring your satellite phone?" Pepper asked, a little bit of panic settling in her bones._

 _"Right by the shoes."_

 _"OK," Pepper breathed hard and shook her head. "Anyway, Hydra?"_

 _"Yeah," Tony shuddered. "Hydra."_

 _He told her about the other super soldiers. About how they were made, brainwashed, and forced to commit terrible crimes against their will. About how Hydra's standards and expectations for bettering the species were opposite to the principles Captain American had been born out of. About how Zemo had led them all by the nose to the Hydra base in Siberia. About how, for a brief instant, they had all feared that Zemo's plan was to revive and unleash these beasts into the world._

 _"He'd killed them in their sleep by the time we got there. All of them. They were shot in the head."_

 _"He killed them? But… why? Why would he…"_

 _"He wanted revenge on us, so he used them."_

 _"But he had a way to control those other super soldiers, right? With the book you mentioned? He could've used them to attack all of you."_

 _"He could've, for a while, but he didn't want any more of them around. Of us. He wants all superpowered freaks to go."_

 _"So, why not use the soldiers to kill you all then and there and then brainwash them into killing themselves? I mean, I don't want to give the man ideas or want you dead, but it makes more sense than what he did. He went through a lot of trouble finding these soldiers just to kill them in their sleep."_

 _"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within… That's dead forever."_

 _Pepper furrowed her brow at Tony's words. "What?"_

 _"That's what he told us before… before he did just that."_

 _"Did what?"_

" _Try to break us apart… from within."_

 _Pepper's squinted her eyes even further. "Try to break you apart? But you said… I don't… I thought you and Steve were OK?"_

 _"We are now. I have a better picture_ now _. But at that moment, when Zemo had us there and he showed me the truth…"_

 _"The truth?" Pepper briefly closed her eyes to try to focus her energy on Tony's cryptic responses. "I don't follow."_

 _"Zemo's plan all along had been to destroy the Avengers from inside. To make us fight and hate one another. To crumble an empire from within."_

 _"Well, you_ were _fighting a little, right? Because of the Accords? Everyone fights. But to want to kill each other? After everything you've been through together as a team? That's not gonna happen."_

 _Tony grimaced at her words. She trusted him so much to do the right thing. Or to at least fix his mistakes once he realized he had made them. The confidence she had in him hurt him sometimes._

 _"That's the thing, Pep," he continued. "It almost did. It was down to just us three. And I… I wanted to kill Barnes… and then Steve."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"Because… the truth… the truth is that…" Tony's body began shivering and Pepper doubted it was just because of the cold. "Because Barnes… Steve's friend… he… he killed them, Pepper. He killed them in cold blood."_

 _"Who? He killed who?"_

 _Tony's eyes clench shut and he let go of a shuddering breath, the video of the murder playing in his mind. "My parents. Hydra. Hydra sent Bucky Barnes to kill them."_

xxxXXXxxx

His incoherent mumbling turning into a long groan, followed by a string of creative curses, made her look up from her bag to see Tony slowly sitting up on the single, small plank attached to the wall that was supposed to be a bed. Under any other conditions, she would have probably given him a minute and space to find his bearings before speaking to him. However, he had been asleep for nearly three hours since she had brought him here, so holding back her relief was not an option at all. The rising fear that he was never going to wake up prompted her to take the one step that separated her plank from his, and she all but threw herself at him.

"You're awake!"

It took him a moment to realize that it was Pepper who was clinging onto him as if her life depended on it. The instant this knowledge hit him, he exhaled in relief and thanked the universe for whatever help had been sent over in their time of need. He was not sure what was happening and when she had woken up, or why he had been asleep in the first place, but he was grateful for the chance to see, hear and feel her again. As he tried to return the embrace she was offering, however, he felt aches he could not immediately account for and that made him physically flinch.

"Ow, ow, ow! Easy, Pep. Shoulder hurts. What the hell? Ouch!"

"Dammit," she said under breath and pulled away to examine the injury with him. "I thought the frame hadn't hit you that hard."

"Frame?" Tony shook his head slightly to try to clear the fog in his brain. "What frame?"

"The door frame. It's a really sharp turn from the first door to the second. Clearly, you didn't build this thing. You probably would've made the doors automatically shift positions once inside. User-friendly and all."

Tony's eyes blinked repeatedly as he stared at her in the near dark, a look of utter confusion on his face.

"What?"

The redhead's distress was evident in how she managed to respond to his simple question without stopping take a breath, all the while her hands gestured wildly in the cramped space.

"I don't know exactly where we are, but we're in some emergency shelter on Mount Elbrus. Or at least that's what that posted sign over there says. And I-I don't know what we were doing outside, but you were passed out and I brought you in here. You wouldn't wake up. I have a bump on my forehead that I don't know how I got. Your leg is cut but I cleaned it up. I don't know if anyone knows where we are or if they're looking for us. I can't find the satellite phone. There's no heat or power in this thing. And you were both cold and burning up for a while – thought maybe the cut on your leg got infected. I didn't know what else to do. I've been waiting forever, sitting here... hoping… And I… I thought you were… that you weren't… I thought you were gonna leave me! I thought you were gonna die in your sleep!"

At the end of her rant, the redhead pressed her fingers against her closed eyes and breathed hard through her mouth.

"No, hey," he hugged her, realizing by her rambling that she was at the end of her rope, "I'm fine. I'm OK. Not dead. I'm just… yeah, I'm in helluva pain but, what else is new, right?"

She nodded, sniffled, and then slowly ran her hands down his chest.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" she looked up at him then, her eyes full of worry, "Can you walk? Can you move your legs? Wiggle your toes? Did I crack your shoulder? I didn't mean to hurt you. I just… you're just so heavy and it's so dark and–"

"I'm fine, Honey," he pulled an inch or two away only so that he could briefly press his lips against hers, not even thinking about the implications of the gesture at all. "You did great, OK? We're gonna be fine. _You_ saved _me_. So, now _I_ can get _us_ out of this, all right?"

Pepper's lip trembled and she closed her eyes without uttering a reply.

"All right?" the genius repeated, more confident this time, wanting nothing more than to give her the hope of survival and success that she clearly did not have. "Sweetheart?"

When she did not instantly reply, Tony returned his lips to her face. He pressed them against her temple, her brow, the tip of her nose, and then her lips once more. This time, the slow and thorough kiss lasted nearly a minute, leaving them both wishing for more than just a short-lived lip lock.

"OK," she finally nodded, more to convince herself than him. "I did fine. You're fine. We're gonna be fine."

"We are, Sweetheart. We are. I'm sorry I scared you. But I'm OK. Thanks to you, I'm OK. You saved me. You _saved_ me. In your own way. Like you always do. Now we're gonna save ourselves."

Pepper bit her lower lip and nodded once more before she rested her forehead against his chin, selfishly clinging onto the heat he radiated, mostly due to the mild fever she knew he still had. She felt his hot lips place a lingering kiss to the crown of her head, which pulled a quivering breath of partial relief out of her.

"I don't remember much," she began, "But I think you saved me first. You always save me first. Do you remember… what happened? How we got here?"

Tony swallowed hard and closed his eyes before responding, "Yeah. I do."

xxxXXXxxx

 _Pepper's eyes widened and she swallowed hard. "What… who… That can't be… How?_ _ **How**_ _do you know that's true?"_

 _"Son of a bitch had a video of it. The night of the accident. Security footage that was kept secret. Barnes, he punched my dad in the face until he died. Then, he broke my mom's neck while she was still inside the car. That's… that's what Zemo showed us. That's what he used to pit us against each other. That's why I almost killed Barnes and Steve. Barnes for murdering my parents. Rogers for keeping it from me. And for keeping me from killing Barnes for it."_

 _Pepper gasped and felt tears practically burst out of her eyes. For all his bravado, she knew that the absence of his parents was an extremely difficult subject for the billionaire. He had always expressed regret for what he had not said and what he had not done the last day he had spoken to them, so she could not imagine what it felt like to learn that their lives had been deliberately snatched away from him before their time. There could have been more to them. They could still be around. They could have had the opportunity to see the wonderful man their son had become._

 _Tony's life could have been so different. He could have had a better life. A fuller life. With them._

" _Tony… oh, Tony…"_

 _His head was suddenly thrust onto her shoulder and his entire body was pressed against hers, leaving no inch of skin untouched. Her right hand gently combed the back of his head while the left one desperately fisted his sweater, the ginger suddenly feeling incapable of providing enough physical comfort to him. Thoughts of how devastated Tony must have felt at finding out the truth about his parents' deaths, in such terrible conditions at that, made her want to cry a river for him._

 _"I'm so sorry, baby," Pepper kissed the side of his face. "I'm so sorry about what happened to them. I'm so sorry it had to be that way. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you. I–"_

 _"You're here now," he whispered, his eyes still closed and his heart breaking all over again, as if he were finding out the truth for the first time once more._

 _"Yes. I'm here now."_

xxxXXXxxx

The light he was shining on her eyes hurt, but pain, in this case, was a good sign. Her eyes hurt because her pupils were dilating, responding as expected to the sudden changes in light.

"I don't think you have a concussion," he turned off the small flashlight in his hand. "You passed out on me but you've been awake for a while. If you don't get a horrible headache in the next few hours, I think you're out of the woods."

The redhead placed her palms against his cheeks in a poor attempt to measure his temperature.

"I think your fever is going down, too. But you should take more of those pain killers in a couple of hours or so. I wish we had antibiotics. The gash looked pretty red."

"Cold will keep it from getting too infected. Or at least slow down the spread of it."

"Still," she worried her bottom lip. "Take the pills, all right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Feeling somewhat relieved that their injuries were not as life-threatening as they could have been, Tony placed what he hoped was a placating kiss to the redhead's forehead before standing up and walking towards the metal plaque by the entrance of the shelter to read the contents of it. If he wanted them to have a chance to survive this, he needed to internalize the facts of their current living quarters and quickly. He had already wasted enough time being unconscious.

"Rules of behavior," the inventor began, "For rescue in bad weather… don't leave garbage… possibility of combustion products poisoning… close both doors… inform emergency ministry about your location as soon as possible… shelter's not heated… no ventilation inside. Well, that's fucking nice."

"Better than being outside," Pepper mused.

"I'm not totally convinced of that right now," Tony grumbled.

After Pepper shrugged as a response, Tony began making himself familiar with the rest of their surroundings, his mind demanding that he made sense of what was available to them, which was not much. The shelter resembled a metal shipping container, its dimensions not being larger than 5x6 feet, barely fitting him, Pepper and their mere belongings. The parts inside the unit were sharp and jagged, including the three planks that were meant to be used as bunkbeds – one on the right side, and two on the left. The internal walls and top windows were covered in ice, confirming the notice that there was no electrical power in the unit, as well as his main concern that there was _no_ available ventilation within.

No ventilation meant that, with every breath he and Pepper took, the amount of oxygen was slowly being replaced by carbon dioxide. To replenish their oxygen supply, they would have to open the doors. Opening the doors would allow the cold to come inside. And letting the cold inside would eventually lead them to their deaths.

"You said you didn't find the satellite phone?"

Pepper shook her head from side to side.

"OK."

Tony's gaze locked on the floor, silently wondering what else had been misplaced during their tumbling. The satellite phone was one of the most important things to have, and that was certainly gone. The first-aid kit was still present, and that was great, as was the portable heater, some of their snacks and a few of their clothes and blankets. But these items alone were not enough to call for aid or to help them survive. In fact, he would happily trade them all for the satellite phone.

Realizing that he needed to know exactly what else they had available, he walked towards his backpack, opened it, flipped it, and then began unceremoniously emptying everything inside.

"Let's see what else we've got."

Without needing to be told, Pepper quickly joined him in the task.

xxxXXXxxx

 _Tony opened his eyes when he felt the tent rattle, but he immediately closed them again when the shaking stopped. With how many times he had fallen asleep and then woken up again, this was turning out to be the longest yet the most unrestful night of his entire life. It was as if he was taking power naps that only served the point of keeping him awake for a moment of dullness until he was due another quick nap that would prove fruitless in the end. He was going to be grumpy and tired all day tomorrow. But he would at least feel free of carrying yet another heavy burden of his on his own; all thanks to the slumbering woman in his arms._

 _At some point after ending their conversation about what had happened to him in Siberia, his fight with Captain America included, they had both fallen asleep in each other's arms. He could not recall the exact moment they had both conked out, but he did remember how she had showered him with affection and kind words as he had recanted the entire ordeal to her, while simultaneously apologizing to him for what neither of them could have done anything to prevent. She had practically made love to him with her soft caresses and her whispered words, yet they had not removed any piece of clothing at any point._

 _Telling her the truth about his parents' deaths had been both relieving and excruciating for him. It was one more thing he had been able to be open up to her about – a major pain point of his that he had finally shared with someone he loved. But reliving the details of the video and how he had fought tooth-and-nail to try to brutally murder a man that he had wanted to protect just minutes before seeing the video had made him angry at himself all over again._

 _He had known, just as she had told him before falling asleep, that he had just reacted like anyone in pain would have at finding out something devastating about their past. That while he, in retrospect, had gone overboard and he had almost given Zemo what he had wanted, no one could really claim that they would have not done the same in his position. And anyone who dared to make such a statement was just full of shit._

 _He had also agreed with her thoughts that, as much as people wanted to believe and say that they were above their basic instincts and that they were civilized, it only took one sucker punch to the gut for the biggest pacifist on the planet to lose his shit. Deep inside, everyone was still just an animal pretending to be something more. And animals reacted with unbidden aggression when drowning in anger or fear. Tony had attacked Bucky and Steve in anger – and the pair had fought back in fear. It had been both as simple and as complicated as that. Just as it currently was to want to sleep but being unable to do so._

 _Tony opened one eye when the tent shook yet again and he then heard a snap coming from outside. The increase in shaking of the fabric of their tent made him open his other eye and lift his head, just in time for him to witness what followed._

 _One by one, and in a swift motion, the pegs that held their tent together were pulled from the ground by the unforgiving wind gusts. The top of the tent began both sagging and swaying to the side the breeze pushed it to, warning him of the impending collapsing of the only thing providing them with some sort of protection from the cold. He sat up inside the sleeping bag in an attempt to stop the tent from falling on them, but Mother Nature had other plans for him._

" _FUCK!"_

 _As he struggled to free his legs from the bag to spring into action, he heard Pepper slowly coming to, asking him what was going on, only to then hear her shriek when the tent became a half-assed, life-size version of a hamster ball to them. Before he had a chance to hold on to the ginger, the tent began shifting away from camp, rolling and spiraling them towards the unknown, leaving them to become an amalgam of limbs and grunts that could not stop their awkward motion down the mountain. Tony recalled that they had camped right smack in the middle of the pathway, but he could not tell if they were being tumbled closer to the mountain or to the edge. His sense of direction was shot, and his fear for their lives skyrocketed when he heard Pepper huff out a groan of pain._

 _The little pants of distress that had been coming from her immediately stopped. Her attempt at stopping her fumbling movements ceased, and his eyes widened in fear at what could have caused her to pass out. The sound of ripping fabric told him they had hit something sharp, probably one of those jagged rocks they had hiked by earlier, and the tent suddenly tore apart, finally putting an end to their rolling._

 _As he untangled himself from the tent, he felt a piercing pain rush up his left leg and he cursed. He did not have time to find his limb in the dark to see what had happened to him, however; all he wanted to do was to get to his wife, find a pulse on her, and then find their way back to camp._

 _As he slowly dragged himself towards Pepper, he took stock of their situation. Their belongings were scattered. Their tent was ripped. They were half-dressed and being snowed on. They were both injured and away from the only other person that could help them. It was dark and windy, and he had no idea which way was up. They were up on a mountain, in Russia, with no communication with the outside world unless the satellite phone could be found._

 _Why the hell had he not put the damn thing back into his bag? He was never going to find it now!_

 _Despite their odds, he smiled and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that Pepper's heartbeat was strong. He pulled her out of the snow and held on to her as his eyes located whatever could help them make it out of this. Their backpacks were still there, as was their sleeping bag, and he could spot their shoes, too. Maybe the situation was not as bad as it seemed. Maybe he could get them back to camp all on his own. Maybe he could scream Anton's name loud enough to be heard above the noise of the storm._

 _But he first needed to get their belongings together. First, he needed to get his own mind straight._

xxxXXXxxx

"What?" Tony said with a sly smirk as Pepper gave him a strange look. "What, Potts? Did you never build a fort as a kid?"

"Of course, I did. With chairs, towels and blankets. Not with… with…"

"It's a high-tech fort," Tony shrugged. "Well, sorta high-tech. I do what I can with what I have."

And what he _had_ built had her in awe.

It had taken a couple of hours and some teamwork, but they were finally warm enough despite the bitter cold inside the shelter. Tony had insisted they created their cocoon of warmth with the doors open to circulate and refresh the air. He had promised that they would be warm again in no time once he got the portable heater to work again, and delivering on his promised he had.

The room felt even smaller now that their clothes, extra tent, blankets, and sleeping bags had been propped around them, resembling a child's version of a fort, but it had all ended being a blessing in disguise. The smaller the place was, the easier it was to heat up.

During his scouting of the shelter, Tony discovered that the single plank he had been sleeping on could be folded back onto the wall. This left them with enough space to build a nest on the floor on which they could both lay down together, increasing their chances of remaining warm by cuddling up.

"Now, if I can just get one of these damn phones to catch the signal of our Stark satellite, we're as good as rescued."

Pepper yawned, shifted her position from sitting cross-legged in front of Tony to stretching her legs beside him. "You do that. I think I'm gonna…" she yawned again.

Tony stopped his tinkering with the phones and eyed the ginger from the corner of his eye. "You alright, Pepper?"

"Yeah, just tired."

"Cold?"

"No."

"Head hurts?"

"No. Just… didn't sleep well before. Stayed up while you were asleep. All this moving around. Trying to stay warm. It's catching up on me, I think."

"It's the power of the fort," Tony returned his eyes to the device in his hand. "You rest, Pep. When you wake up, it's gonna be just in time to be rescued."

"OK," Pepper mumbled and gave him a lazy nod before she curled up next to him and closed her eyes. Tony's eyes stayed on her for almost a minute, if just to make sure that she was breathing normal and that she seemed relaxed. After accepting that the redhead was indeed just resting and not sleeping herself into a coma, Tony returned his full attention to his cell phone once again, even if he was fully aware that his efforts of the past few minutes were a lost cause unless he did what he knew needed to be done.

 _Come on, you piece of shit_ , Tony held back a groan. _Fucking find my damn satellite!_

For the life of him, Tony could not find anything wrong with the device itself, which had further confirmed for him his suspicions that the issue was not the technology, but their current whereabouts. He had figured this out about half an hour ago, but he had not wanted to say it aloud in front of Pepper. She would worry needlessly and perhaps lose the little hope she had in being found, so he had kept himself from stating the problem or carrying out the potential solution… until now.

He knew that the shelter itself was preventing the phone from finding the signal it was searching for. The reinforced materials that had to have been used to build it to sustain the weather were thick and strong enough to interfere with the satellite's reach. Even the most advanced cellular phones lost reception when the user rode an elevator or went through a tunnel, and his advanced tech was not exempt from that. For the phone to work as expected – for it to find the Stark satellite and send a distress signal to his suits and to everyone he knew, he _had_ to go outside.

It had taken them so much time and effort to build their fort and for the heater to do its job, that he had not wanted to open the doors yet again. It would only be a matter of time before his impromptu solution to fixing the portable heater crapped out, leaving them to become freezing cold yet again. He knew that the constant change in body temperature was as bad as being exposed to a constant wave of heat or cold, so he had wanted Pepper to avoid being exposed to either as long as he had a say in that. Nevertheless, the time had finally come for him to sneak out and walk in the snow as much as he needed to find a signal. Whether that would be a few steps or a few miles, he had no way of knowing the answer ahead of time.

Tony closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, silently resigning himself to what he knew was to come. Most of the blankets and clothes had gone into building their protective cocoon; their tent hanging from the ceiling and cascading towards the ground. He would be going outside in fewer clothing items that he had had before, and there was nothing to be done about that. They had used their thick coats as a makeshift mattress beneath them to give them a comfortable place to sleep, as well as acting as a buffer between their bodies and the cold floor of the shelter. Their backpacks were their pillows. Their thick sleeping bag had become their only blanket. And the remaining gloves and scarves he had forced upon Pepper after seeing how much damage she had done to the skin on her hands and face while she had dragged his unconscious ass in here.

He had been both shocked and grateful that she had not gotten frostbite out of her heroic deed. And that realization alone had served to push himself even further into wanting to do whatever he needed to save her life – including lying to her about what the real problem with the cell phone was. If he had been smart enough to put away the satellite phone before they had gone to bed at their camp, he could have almost guaranteed finding some signal by simply getting close to the single window in the shelter and nothing more. But seeing as all he had was his regular cell phone…

He knew that she hated it when he lied to her. He knew that his lies had gotten them into this separation mess in the first place. He knew that not telling her about his plans would probably undo some of the remarkable progress they had made in the past few weeks. That, if they both somehow managed to survive this, he would probably lose the trust he had been earning with her. But how could he be expected to just sit here and allow her to freeze or starve to death if there was a chance that he could keep her from meeting either fate, no matter the cost?

Truth was that he could not. Not in a million years. Even if saving her life meant losing his.

Maybe he was meant to die in the bitter cold, anyway. Maybe this had been the reason why he had found out the truth about his parents' demise while in similar weather conditions and while being in almost the same damn corner of the world. Because it was his destiny that he died here; surrounded by the harshest weather conditions imaginable in his quest to save the woman he loved.

Just as his parents had been killed by the Winter Soldier, Tony Stark would be bested by Sergeant Cold.

Despite the grim conditions, his last thought made him smile. That had been a good, albeit a little morbid ironic pun. And no one would know it had crossed his mind.

 _Sarcasm is a metric for potential_ , his father had told him many times. Although what kind of potential, he had never specified.

 _Potentially stupid_ , he knew Pepper would have said to him, had she been awake right now and aware of what he was about to do, right before she would have either found a way to keep him inside or would have forced her way outside with him, putting them both in danger by either doing nothing to save themselves or doing something stupid as a team. Which was why he had made sure he tired her with the building of the fort. Which was why he had waited for her to be completely passed out.

Just as she was now.

Finally opening his eyes again, he leaned over her slumbering form and placed a kiss to her forehead. He was glad to see that the gesture did not even register for her, and neither did it when his hand squeezed hers for an instant before he lifted it towards his lips and kissed the back of it. He took a moment to bask in her company one last time, smiling widely at the realization that the powers that be, the same ones that had taken his parents and had kept him in a filthy cave in Afghanistan against his will, had bestowed him with her presence in his life. If anything – if he died today – he would take with him every single smile, caress, kind word and sweet moment he had had with her. He would expire with a smile on his lips and a comforting heat in his heart at having known her. He would remain awake as long as needed to do his job. And he would do it without a doubt or regret because it would guarantee her coming out on top from this.

She would hate him for it for years to come; curse him for his final act of selflessness and idiocy. Tell his lingering and wandering spirit what he could have done instead. But she would at least be _alive_ to do all these things. And maybe one day he would see her again. Hold her again. Hear her tell him how stupid it had been to sacrifice himself for her. Make him apologize for leaving her alone for so long.

 _Maybe…_

He inwardly groaned at his foolish thoughts, reminding himself that he did not believe in a higher power that granted eternal life after death, so his hopes were dumb and unfounded. He firmly believed that once the body expired, that was all she wrote. That once you became worm food, you ceased to exist forever. That just as his parents had not done so to their only son, he too would not have an opportunity to show his presence to Pepper from the next world.

Tony Stark was many things, yet a follower of religion or practitioner of spiritual faith he was not. He knew what he would find once outside. He knew what this little trip of his would do to him. He knew that there would be no white light at the end of the tunnel of his life. No angel that would come for his sorry soul and offer safe passage to worlds unknown. No salvation after death for those who repented in their final moments and asked for forgiveness and mercy from God.

He was aware that Pepper believed all of that, much to his surprise. But he? He simply did not.

Nonetheless, and for the briefest of instants, as he stood up from their would-be bed and began quietly heading towards the exit of the shelter, he allowed himself to believe it all. He allowed himself to buy into it. Every bit of it. To be as expectant as his redhead was when it came to that. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe he would meet his maker today and be proven to have been incorrect all along. Or maybe he would not high-five his maker because God himself would spare his life and would instead send him help before he froze outside.

Maybe help was already on the way and he would just run into it when he opened the door.

 _Maybe…_

As quickly as that moment of respite came to him, it was gone.

Not wanting to waste more time, Tony shook his head to focus his thoughts. His hand then landed on the lock of the first door before sparing the cocoon of warmth one last glance.

 _As long as I get to send a call for help_ , Tony sighed. _As long as she gets found…_

As long as she made it, he would gladly die.

* * *

 **A/N:** Y'all probably get tired of reading it, but I don't get tired of saying it: thank you all so much for your patience, your kind words of support, and your commitment to this story (even if it takes forever for me to update). I hope it's still meeting your expectations and giving you a good dose of Pepperony ^_^


	12. Chapter 11: Moscow, Part 3

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Thank you for the favorite/follow:** _Kokoro91,_ _cindybelle61, Kingclaytnim, Mattheryatdownton, Nahni, and BakerStreet211b._

 **Stark13: Happy to see you're back ! I still love this story. Can't wait for more ! Update soon please** – HI! Make sure you have a quiet place to read this update. And a fan :P

 **Yoshipotts: Hey i love this beautiful story! so much pepperony feelings this last chapter got me crying! seriously all that i want is pepper and tony to be alright and end up together. Pls dont make us wait that long for the next chapter** – SORRY! But I KNOW this chappie is worth the wait!

 **Pepperonylove: Yey! You dont know how happy I was to see your update! (and well, you're alive! Yess! Haha) More, more! I want more! I will never get tired of reading this. I want to see more Pepperony fluff. Oh goooosh! You are back! You dont know how happy I am to see you've updated. Im actually starting to worry you won't anymore. But hurray! You live! :) :) :) Im anxious to read the next chapter! Tony better not freeze out there or else Pepper will kill him for being stupid (lols). Im so excited for what you have in store! I always check FF bec of your story :) Continue what you do dear! Hope you're doing well :) (My 1st review did not post :( )** – Worry not, my Faithful Reader! I will finish this story, despite all the crap that tries to make it not be the case. Thank you so much for sticking around :D

 **Kingclaytnim: Wow! I just discovered this story and I love it! And cannot wait for an update, thank you for posting this great fanfic!** – Thank you for reading and reviewing it ^_^

 **PolishGirl: I've never reviewed any fanfic before but this story is so great I had to do it. Seriously it's one of the BEST stories I've read. I cant wait for next chapter. HOPE YOU UPDATE SOON!** – Awww… I'm so flattered! And embarrassed because it took me forever to update. Sorry about that! Worth the wait, though. I promise!

 **PolishGirl: I cant wait for the next chapter! Your fanfic is one of the most interesting I've ever read.** – Thank you! You may also like _30 Days_. It's one of my favorite personal ones (I know: shameless advertising of my own fics :P)

 **Guest: I thought you will never update. I've been following this story and got sad when there were new chapters for a while. But hey you're back and the new chapters are exciting. Please update soon. I beg.** – I'm so sorry! This chapter will make up for the wait ^_^

 **Guest: When I see you've updated even if it's quite awhile since you haven't I almost cried with joy! :) Your story is one of the most exciting fanfiction I've read and I don't really give comments or reviews. But I hope our reviews inspire you to continue because you have a gift. Keep it up! :)** – They do and they did. Thank you for not losing hope :D

 **A/N:** Hi, all! Not much to say here other than to apologize, yet again, for the causes this time, other than writer's block? I had another miscarriage last month, and then my external hard drive (where I store all my files) crashed and burned and I lost _Aftermath_. Well, I lost a lot of things, and it took me over a week to recover most of them, but I wasn't able to recover much of this story. The outline and partial drafts I had for future chapters were corrupted in the crash and I couldn't recover them. I lost all of the chapters and only part of this chapter was salvageable after a LOT of effort of going through temp files in XML format (not fun!).I actually downloaded the previous chapters from FFNET because I had no other copies of them. And then my laptop died, too, and I had to revive it. Alas, despite the obstacles, here we are :)

I am taking a few days off work because my birthday is on Tuesday and because I worked through my miscarriage, because the last thing I wanted to be thinking about was my body going through this a THIRD time. I think I've earned a little break to do whatever the hell I want. Thus, my gift for myself is to give you a worthy update of this story. I hope it doesn't disappoint much.

Thank you, my Faithful Readers. I carry on thanks to you ^_^

 **HELP REQUESTED:** One of our fellow Pepperony fans is looking for a story. It sounds very familiar to me, but I don't have it saved anywhere. Maybe one of you knows it? It's about Tony and Pepper being at a press conference, and she gets hurt by a reporter (maybe breaks her arm?), and Tony is all mad about it and they end up getting together thanks to it. Any ideas, anyone?

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Moscow – Part 3**

It had been three long, heart-wrenching days, and he was yet to move a finger – let alone open his eyes.

Save for the slow rising and lowering of his chest, the inventor could be mistaken for a corpse. And even though the last thing she wanted to compare him to was anything related to death, there was no other way to describe his current status. He had flatlined on her when he had been taken inside the helicopter that had come to save them after his distress call had been received. He had done so again when they had arrived at the hospital they were currently in, still in Moscow. His vital signs had been all over the place through it all until a few hours ago. As had her own emotions and faith that he would come back to her. Death was all she could begrudgingly compare him to.

The doctors had taken off his oxygen mask this morning and, so far, the genius was still breathing on his own. The cut on his calf had been properly cleaned and stitched. His lost blood had been promptly replenished. His body was being fed via an IV line. His fever had finally broken. His blood pressure had stabilized. His limbs had survived the cold. But the paleness of his skin would just not detach from him. The Grim Reaper simply refused to release its grip on the man she loved.

Three days. She had been drowning in fear and stress for _three_ days.

Pepper did not bother to wipe the tears from her face when she heard the door to the private hospital room open behind her. She did not need to turn around to know who was coming inside to rejoin her in her vigil. Both Rhodey and Happy had been as reluctant to leave their friend – their brother – as she had been thus far. Nothing but the urgent call of nature had been strong enough to force any of them to step out for a couple of minutes, tops.

Or, in this case, the urgent need to get some sustenance in the redhead before she ended up becoming patient number two.

As expected by the two men, the ginger did not spare them a glance as they walked closer to her. From the moment that the rescue team had found her, asleep inside the shelter, and she had then realized what Tony had done, she had only had eyes for him. If someone dared to say that she had drunk two bottles of water and had eaten a handful of crackers in three days, the statement would instantly and truthfully be called an exaggeration. Neither Rhodey nor Happy knew how Pepper was still aware, standing and awake after eating so little and sleeping even less than that. The woman was already very much on the thin side as it was. She was going to send herself to her deathbed if she kept this up.

Then again, if Tony's condition did not improve in the next twenty-four hours or so – the timeframe the doctors had allocated for anything good to happen to the patient, if it ever did – they doubted that she would mind following suit. And then, with their luck as it always tended to be, Tony would very likely choose _that_ moment to miraculously get better and wake up, and he would in turn hate them both for the rest of their lives for allowing Pepper to rush to the early check-out lane.

All of it boiled down to one simple truth: if they wanted _both_ of their friends to make it out of this one, they had to bring in the big guns.

And bringing the big guns right now meant landing a low-blow on the already downhearted redhead.

Biting down his tongue and trying his best to keep a neutral face that did not immediately give away his physical discomfort and his true intentions, Rhodey slowly completed the task of setting up a tray of food for the redhead. Despite his façade, he knew that Pepper could still somewhat pinpoint his struggle from the corner of her eye, which was something he was counting on in order to make this work. He knew that she could tell how much effort it was taking out of him to perform the simple goal of feeding a friend in need while trying to remain standing up. This was something that should have not taken his or anyone's breath away, especially not a member of the armed forces and a part-time superhero – but thanks to his injury, it did.

Pepper spared Happy a glance, silently questioning his lack of action or support for Rhodey's efforts, but the former bodyguard simply shrugged. Rhodey was a proud man – a man used to being extremely resourceful and self-sufficient. He would hate it if either she or Happy did anything that made it seem as if they were taking pity on him. Sometimes, he was worse than Tony in that regard. Perhaps this was one of the many reasons why the duo had almost immediately become friends. Practically brothers. A fact that, in turn, reminded Pepper that she was not the only one on the verge of a meltdown at seeing Tony in this state. He had barely had any time to recover from the explosion in Dhaka before he had gone searching for her. And now he was fighting for his life yet again after saving hers.

"I didn't know what kind of dressing you'd prefer," Rhodey said as he pushed the tray of food on the rolling table towards Pepper; most of his weight now being supported by his arm resting against the foot of the bed Tony lay on.

"Brought you the two kinds they had," Happy added, an encouraging hand gesture following his retort, pointing towards the salad and bottle of water that Rhodey had just presented her with.

Pepper bit the inside of her mouth, suddenly realizing why Happy had not been involved in setting up the tray, and she inwardly sighed to prepare for what was to come.

"Thank you, Rhodey, but I'm not… I mean," she waved her hand towards the tray, "I'm grateful that you… but I–"

"Frankly, my dear," Rhodey began, his tone of voice and the look on his face leaving no room for argument, "I don't give a shit."

"A damn," Happy quickly interjected, his left hand raised somewhat.

"What?" Rhodey looked towards his left and narrowed his eyes at Hogan.

"You said: _a shit_. The line is: I don't give _a damn_."

"OK. I don't give a damn–"

"There you go!"

"—What the line says," Rhodey finished his previous statement, shook his head, and then returned his attention to Pepper. "I'm beyond giving a damn. Maybe even a shit. In fact, I think I'm closer to not giving a f—"

"Dude!"

"I'm not hungry, Rhodey," Pepper shook her head, not at all offended by his unusual use of curse words towards her. "Thank you for bringing the food for me. I really appreciate it. But I don't…" her voice cracked. "I can't…" her eyes fell on Tony's face, "I just…"

"Pepper, let's get one thing straight: I'm not asking you if you're hungry. I'm _telling_ you: you're eating. I just dragged this tray all the way up here from the cafeteria, which you _know_ made me so fucking tired because I'm…" he gestured towards his legs, "You know... I think I may even need an inhaler right now. Or morphine. Or both. In fact, it's a damn good thing we're in a hospital already because I think I'm about to–"

The clearing of Happy's throat made Rhodey force his lips shut for an instant. He then shook his head from side to side again to focus his mind as he realized he was beginning to ramble; his nerves getting the best of him. The last thing they needed to do was give Pepper enough time to think of something to do or to say that would thwart their plans of forcing her to take care of herself. They had postponed using the heavy artillery on her for long enough. They just could not continue to watch her slowly destroy herself.

"But…" Rhodey continued, his voice now sounding more sympathetic than frustrated, "But I'd do it again – I'd haul three trays of food a day up the _stairs_ , if that's what it takes for you to eat."

Pepper exhaled sharply and closed her eyes, her hand finding Tony's still one for support. She knew what was happening – what they were trying to do, and she felt absolutely powerless to stop it. She simply could not do it. She was not strong or cruel enough to do this to them. Not to Rhodey. Not to Happy. Not to her best and closest friends. Not to the two men that she considered her family. But she could also not stop herself from needing to be by Tony's side until he woke up. To watch over his slumber and continue speaking to him in the hopes that her voice could carry him back to her. To stupidly hope that her continued presence alone would somehow encourage the genius to fight whatever was keeping him asleep. To remain where she was because she wanted to believe that his hand in hers was the only thing tethering him to this world…

The thoughts were foolish, and she damn well knew it, but she refused to give up on him the same way the doctors and nurses had appeared to do.

If she ate – if she gave in an inch, the next thing she knew she would be taking a quick shower. And then taking a short nap in a chair. And then, before she could stop it, Rhodey and Happy would make her go back to the hotel to have a full night of rest. Maybe suggest that she should be away from the hospital for a day or two to clear her head. At that point, she would probably relent. And if something happened to Tony while she was gone…

Pepper shook her head. She simply could not allow that to happen. Picturing the possible scenarios was enough to send her into a panic attack. She would surely not survive the actual experience of it, if it came to it. She knew that pushing back on their demands would only hurt them all, but she just could not let Tony slip through her hands without a fight.

"Rhodey, that's not fair. Please, don't–"

"Don't _what_?" the tone of his voice made the ginger open her eyes and face her friend. The Air Force Colonel was visibly tired, sweating just by the effort of keeping himself upright, had dark circles under his eyes, could barely finish two sentences without losing his breath, and his now-weak legs were starting to shake where he stood. Yet, he also had no intention of backing down from this. He had seen these two fools blindly do enough stupid things for the sake of the other. This time, he was not going to sit back and allow them to make matters worse for each other for no just cause.

"Don't–"

"Care about you?" Rhodey interrupted her. "Take care of you? Worry about you? Which one exactly, Pepper? 'Cause you're gonna have to be clearer on that. Do you think Tony wants you to starve yourself to death? For him? Are you kidding me? He's gonna have our asses when he wakes up and sees you like this. _We_ don't like seeing you like this. We don't _want_ to see you like this. What do you think Tony's gonna say or do when he does?"

Pepper looked away from Rhodey to stare at Tony again, her eyes filling with tears of worry and guilt, but she made no effort to deny Rhodey's words or to reach for the food tray. She could not disagree with any of his statements, anyway. She knew he was right.

"You know him, Pepper," Happy jumped in when the redhead showed no signs of changing her mind, but his voice was softer than Rhodey's. "Look at him. Just… just remember all he did to get you out of there. Do you think it's fair for him to wake up and see you running yourself ragged? That's the last thing he wants to see. He's going to want to see you healthy and rested. He's gonna want to see that his efforts weren't in vain. Hell, he's probably going to want to see you pissed off at him!"

The joke made them all slightly chuckle, if just due to how true the jab actually was.

"You know how much he loves you," Happy continued, "That man is crazy about you! If you don't rest – if you don't eat… he's gonna feel like a failure. It won't matter if he got you out of there in one piece. He'll think he could've done better if he wakes up to you looking like you're about to die on him."

"Please," Rhodey placed a hand on her left shoulder and gave it a desperate squeeze. " _Please_ , Pepper. Eat. Sleep. For him."

 _For him._

Because everything she had ever done since meeting the genius, even back when she had been just his brand-new assistant, had been for him: planning his last-minute trips; escorting out his one-night stands; facing the media after his constant bad decisions; running his company while he was partying all night; keeping him in line and on schedule as much a she could; threatening everyone and their mother to force them to look for him when he was lost in Afghanistan; patching him up when he took up superhero duties; supporting him when his heart and soul were falling apart at the seams; being on this fucking trip that was chockfull of fake pleasantries and lies so that his dream of legacy could go on.

Holding his hand in both of hers and against her cheek, her tears damping his skin, as she embarked on an exercise in futility by trying to find the words to fight the truth in Rhodey's.

 _What for?_

For no good reason at all.

Because she knew – they all knew, what she _had_ to do. What she _needed_ to do. For him.

Taking care of herself right now, even when she did not even feel like doing it at all, would be for him. Just like him risking his life by voluntarily walking into the harsh mountain weather to get a signal on the satellite phone had been for her.

 _For me._

He had done it all for her. He was lying on this bed _for her_. The least she could do for him was eat.

xxxXXXxxx

He opened his eyes to the most breathtaking sunset he had ever seen in his entire life – the colorful rays almost bathing his skin. He had to be on the west coast for the sun to look like that; as if it was one with the horizon. The sunsets on the east coast had never looked quite right to him.

Perhaps it was because he was, deep down, still a son of the west coast. Sure, New York was his type of city: all the hype that came with being in _The Big Apple_ did live up to his expectations. But the relaxing and laid-back nature of California was something he would never trade for all the culture and nightlife in New York. This was one of the reasons why he had set his permanent home on that cliff by the sea, rather than smack-dab in the middle of downtown New York City: so that he could have the best view of the falling sun from the comfort of his bedroom.

"It's quite the sight, isn't it?"

The familiar voice coming from behind him should have startled him, but it did not. Something inside him told him that it was coming. That he should be expecting it and that there was more of it to come. He was not sure what it was, or where he was, but the harmony he felt in his heart and soul made it hard for him to care about minor details or tasks such as making sense of what was happening around him or _to_ him.

"Your mother's always loved sunsets. I guess you got that from her."

His mother.

Loved sunsets.

Well, he already _knew_ that.

He smiled at the thought, nonetheless.

"They're soothing," Tony found himself replying to this father. "They make me feel at peace."

Howard Stark sighed deeply and sat in a chair to his son's left, his gaze also taking in the show of nature.

"I never did find anything special about sunsets. Maria says the same thing about them. That they help her relax and calm down. That they're like a mysterious source of energy and inner peace. That she feels her troubles just melting away with the darkening skies," Howard scoffed. "You wanna know what I think about that?"

Tony smirked, the mocking tone of his father's voice already telling him what the elder wanted to hear.

"That what she's feeling is only a psychological effect of focusing her mind and breathing patterns, to the point that her body achieves a state of relaxation because more oxygen is flowing to the body, particularly the brain?"

Howard chuckled at his son's spot-on answer. He had nailed his would-be reply to a T.

"Anything that one finds beautiful and relaxing will have the same effect on a person," Howard added, "I get the same feeling from creating a perfect piece of engineering. Or from accomplishing a long-term dream. Or from–"

"Pointing out that you were right about something and that I wasn't. From telling me _: I told you so, Son_ ," Tony offered his response without malice in his voice.

This time, however, the genius utterly failed at anticipating his father's reply.

"Actually, it's the other way around. I get it from watching you do better and greater things than I could've ever done. From seeing you succeed in what I could've never dreamed of accomplishing in my time or on my own."

"So, from seeing your legacy carry on after you're gone. I guess… I guess I can understand that."

Howard nodded once. "What about you? Is a sunset the only thing that gives you warm fuzzies?"

Tony chuckled and shook his head.

"Almost everything you just said does, too. Every invention that makes the world a better place makes me feel relaxed. Calm. Finally succeeding at something that took me forever to get done, does the trick. And Pepper. Pepper does too."

"Does she?" this time, the voice came from his right and it belonged to Maria. She exchanged a quick look with both father and son, and then gingerly sat in the chair to Tony's right.

"Careful, Honey," Howard began. "I think we're probably gonna hear more than what we want to know about what our son does in his spare time with his woman that makes him _relax_."

"As if we don't already know what our _adult_ son does in his spare time."

Tony smirked at his mother's retort. "What do you expect me to do? I love her."

Maria rested her left hand on her son's right one and patted it twice. "We know, darling."

Tony's smirk turned into a satisfied smile as his hand held onto his mother's delicate one. "You would've loved her, Mom."

"Believe me: I do."

Maria covered Tony's hand with her free one, her eyes proudly taking in the man her son had become, while feeling grateful for the total support that the redhead had given the inventor all this time. The current sparkle in Tony's eyes told her that he was lovingly thinking about the woman that had stolen his heart before he had even known that she had. It was always the same look of contentment on his face when Pepper crossed his mind, or when she was nearby – sometimes, even just when someone mentioned her in passing.

As far as Maria Stark knew, Pepper Potts was Tony's soulmate; if such a thing actually existed in real life.

Yet, a moment too soon, Tony's eyes began to glisten with unshed tears when a certain afterthought entered his mind. His entire demeanor suddenly became crestfallen. His gaze became glued to the sand. And the grip on his mother's hand became tighter than before.

Yes. Maria Stark would have loved Pepper Potts, if the woman had been allowed to live long enough to meet her; let alone to know her.

Tony gulped, the peace that he had felt moments ago all but thrown out the window with the thought of facing his parents' disappointment at realizing what he had failed to do for them.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't do what I should've done for you."

"What's that?" Howard asked.

"I know… I know how you two… and I had the man _in my hands_ and I… I didn't…"

Maria's heart broke for her son; his hands trembling in anger not helping matters any. If only he knew that neither of them saw him any different. If only he knew _and_ believed that he simply took too much responsibility for what was beyond his control.

For someone who had formally been so happy to blow off anything that would make him accountable for his actions, he surely liked to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders now. That was no way to live and she knew it firsthand.

Maria's voice was soft. "You didn't murder him. You didn't murder an innocent man. And that's all right."

"Barnes is _not_ an innocent man," Tony replied.

"And, technically, he's not a guilty one, either," Howard shrugged. "Doesn't make sense to judge someone for doing something they didn't want to do in the first place. Something that was beyond their control. Let alone _execute_ them for it."

"Still, I should've done _something_. Anything. I…" Tony felt the guilt threatening to take his voice away, but he swallowed it down. "I'd do anything to have you back. Anything to… to have you back home. To have you around. I'd trade anything to have you back with me. With us. Pepper and me. Even you, Dad."

Howard chuckled, but he knew his son meant no harm with his partial joke. "Smartass."

"Better than a dumbass," Tony replied with a sniff.

"Oh, you have plenty of those moments, too, Tony. It's like you're trying to outdo yourself at anything and everything," his father remarked.

"Apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Maria said with a sigh as she pulled her hands away from Tony's to rest her back fully against the chair, leaving both men with slacked jaws. Her poor son: a genius, a dumbass and a smartass, just like his father – and an overly sensitive, unwilling hauler of the weight of the world, just like his mother.

"Yup," Tony replied after he recovered, mirth suddenly written all over his face at his mother's witty response and his father's inability to reject her statement. "Pepper and you would've hit it off. Probably double-team me. Prank me at every corner. Keep me on my toes and on a leash and…"

Suddenly, whatever else Tony was going to say died on his lips when reality hit him like a ton of bricks. His shoulders sagged. His head hung. And his gaze got lost in something only he could see.

"Huh," Tony swallowed hard and briefly ran his hands down his face. "Actually, now that I think about it, being here with you like this… with-with no pain… and I… …I-I guess… I guess this means I didn't make it, uh?"

"Told you it would take him a minute to figure it out," Howard said under his breath.

"Shush!" Maria scolded with a furrowed brow before redirecting her attention to her son. "Would you regret doing what got you here if I said that you didn't make it because of it?"

"Did Pepper make it? Did they find her on time? Is she OK? Do you know?"

"She did. She was. She is."

"Then no," Tony replied without a hint of remorse or hesitation and a firm shake of his head. "I don't regret it. I… as… as long as she's all right. If she's alive and well, I don't regret it at all."

"Even if you never get to see her again?"

"Even if I never get to – wait, what? Why would I never see her again? I mean, you two are here. And now I'm here. So, she should be here at some point, right? Like, way, _way_ in the future. Or is this just a pitstop?"

Tony's eyes widened as he looked left and right to his eerily quiet and obviously uncomfortable parents, hoping one of them would answer his questions.

"Uhm…"

"Wait a minute? Are you… are you implying that… Am I going to Hell or something? Is _this_ Hell?!"

If the situation was not so grim for her son, Maria would have laughed aloud at Tony's face and tone of voice. No matter how old he got, seeing him confused and flustered always made him seem too cute and adorable for his own good. In moments like these, all she saw was a tiny toddler trying to figure out why all the food on his plate was gone after eating it… and then trying to find out where it came from to get more. It had not taken him long to understand the patterns of food buying, storage and preparation. And soon enough, they had caught him trying to raid the pantry for more cookies and animal crackers than he was allowed to have on a given day.

Unfortunately, it was not mere treats he was searching for right now, but answers to very serious questions about his fate – or absence thereof.

When neither of his parents said anything else for almost half a minute, Tony sighed loudly and slumped in the chair.

"I guess killing millions of people by proxy doesn't necessarily scream: _Free Pass to Heaven_ , huh?"

"You did say you'd trade anything to have us back, didn't you?" Howard said as he lazily patted his pockets to find a cigarette and a lighter.

"Oh, yeah. Now I know for sure I'm in Hell. I don't think smoking is allowed in the Good Place."

"Don't call you a genius for nothing," Howard mumbled, lighted cigarette between his lips.

"Howard!"

"What?" the elder Stark shrugged at his wife. "I didn't say he _is_ in Hell."

"Didn't say I'm not, either!" Tony remarked.

"Regular Einstein, today, aren't you?" Howard chuckled.

"Oh, Lord," Maria rolled her eyes.

"Is that Lord's name Jesus Christ, by any chance?" Tony began. "'Cuz I'd like to have some words with him. Can I make an appointment?"

"Tony," Maria sighed. "This is not Hell, and it's not heaven–"

"PURGATORY?!"

"No!" Maria smacked her son's right arm. "Will you shut up for a second? I'm trying to make you understand that–"

"That I traded my life for Pepper and for being with you? Oh, no, yeah. I got that part. Pretty clear. And… it's fine… you know? Just… gotta process it. Thoroughly. For a few millennia. This is eternity, right? I don't know how this works. Wasn't much of a believer. Should've listened to Pepper."

"The name of your autobiography," Howard interjected.

"Yeah, it is. Changed it from: _Daddy Wasn't There for Me When He Was Alive_."

"Will you two stop it?!" Maria stood up. "We've been here for three days and all you two can do is fight?"

"Three days?" Tony's eyebrows rose. "I've been… dead… for three days?"

"Well, we've _been_ talking for three days since you got here," Howard clarified.

"What? Three… what? Starting when?"

"When we were talking about the sunset until about now."

"But it's almost going to be four days soon," Maria supplied.

"The hell? I mean… the… heck?" Tony shook his head from side to side. "What?"

"Just breathe, Honey. You just have to breathe," Maria patted Tony's back.

"I'm dead, Mom. I don't think I _have_ to breathe."

"Told you he'd take it well," Howard tapped his cigarette against the chair.

"Told _you_ that you'd be of no help," Maria replied.

"Didn't deny it, Sweetheart," Howard shrugged before he offered a new cigarette to his son. "But here: some help."

"Those things will kill you," Tony instinctively replied before he scoffed and rolled his eyes at his own answer. He then snatched the nicotine from his father's right hand and Howard smirked smugly as he handed his son the lighter.

The three of them turned silent once more while Tony lit up the cancer stick and then returned the metallic borrowed item to its owner. It had been a very long time since he had smoked, but it was still second-nature to him and he did so at the moment with no problem. He hardly ever drank now, too. And if he did, it was just for show – Pepper always helped him either dilute the drink or surreptitiously replace it with ginger ale or mineral water. He had… or had _had_ a reputation to keep up with, when he was alive. Suddenly dropping his vices would have very likely cause undue speculation about his health status that could have impacted his company.

 _Now, though…_

"So, I really don't ever get to see her again?"

"That was the trade you requested," Maria answered. "She lives. You don't. You get to spend the rest of your days with us. But not with her."

Tony silently sighed. His words being paraphrased right back to his face left a bitter taste in his mouth that he knew he had no one to blame for but himself. This _was_ what he had asked for, somewhat, was it not? He _had_ wanted Pepper to make it out of their predicament, at the cost of his own life, had he not?

In his final moments, as he had prepared himself to exit their shelter on Mount Elbrus to search for a satellite signal, he _had_ briefly pondered the existence of the afterlife and what it could mean for him. He _had_ wondered if Pepper's beliefs had been right all along, and he _had_ considered the possibility that perhaps he would get a chance to spend the rest of his afterlife with her. And, he _had_ also made peace with the fact that maybe he was going to become nothing after death because there was no next world at all. What he had apparently not been aware of was that his pondering and questioning had been taken as bargaining rather than the simple musings of a man who knew he was walking to his own deathbed. He was now simply just living up to his end of the deal.

 _He inwardly groaned at his foolish thoughts, reminding himself that he did not believe in a higher power that granted eternal life after death, so his hopes were dumb and unfounded. He firmly believed that once the body expired, that was all she wrote. That once you became worm food, you ceased to exist forever. That just as his parents had not done so to their only son, he too would not have an opportunity to show his presence to Pepper from the next world._

 _Tony Stark was many things, yet a follower of religion or practitioner of spiritual faith he was not. He knew what he would find once outside. He knew what this little trip of his would do to him. He knew that there would be no white light at the end of the tunnel of his life. No angel that would come for his sorry soul and offer safe passage to worlds unknown. No salvation after death for those who repented in their final moments and asked for forgiveness and mercy from God._

 _He was aware that Pepper believed all of that, much to his surprise. But he? He simply did not._

 _Nonetheless, and for the briefest of instants, as he stood up from their would-be bed and began quietly heading towards the exit of the shelter, he allowed himself to believe it all. He allowed himself to buy into it. Every bit of it. To be as expectant as his redhead was when it came to that. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe he would meet his maker today and be proven to have been incorrect all along. Or maybe he would not high-five his maker because God himself would spare his life and would instead send him help before he froze outside._

 _Maybe help was already on the way and he would just run into it when he opened the door._

 **Maybe…**

 _As quickly as that moment of respite came to him, it was gone._

 _Not wanting to waste more time, Tony shook his head to focus his thoughts. His hand then landed on the lock of the first door before sparing the cocoon of warmth one last glance._

 **As long as I get to send a call for help** **,** _Tony sighed._ **As long as she gets found…**

 _As long as she made it, he would gladly die._

The message and intent had clearly been muddled a bit in translation, but there was not much to be done about it now.

He had gotten what he had asked for. It was over and done.

"Are you OK, Son?" Howard asked in a rather serious and concerned tone, much to Tony's surprise. His father had seemed to be very nonchalant about the entire situation thus far, but Tony knew that it was just for show. It had taken him years to realize this, but deep down, Tony knew that Howard Stark had cared for and had loved his son as much as any father could, would, and should. If he was in any kind of pain, he knew that Howard and Maria were in pain for him, too. If he spent the rest of his afterlife yearning for Pepper and mourning the loss of an eternity spent with her, his parents would be miserable right along with him.

He could not and would not allow that. He would just have to live, so to speak, with the choices he had made for himself.

"I will be," Tony replied.

"You will be," Maria agreed with a sad, soft smile before her son disappeared before her eyes.

"He made his peace with that quicker than I thought," Howard remarked, watching the now vacant chair dissipate into thin air, which he knew firsthand would only be possible if his son had truly accepted his fate.

Maria stood up from her chair and joined her husband on his lap, her heart both happy and sad at what had just taken place. The apple had absolutely not fallen far from the tree. Tony's actions mimicking his father's upon arrival to this place were proof of that.

"Because he loves her, Howard. As much as she does him."

Howard nodded, knowing why Tony had given up going to a place where he could have reunited with his loved ones after death, in exchange for the love of his life to have what he could not give her on his own: eternal peace and life with him.

Howard Stark knew _exactly_ why his son had done what he had done for the woman he loved, because he had done it himself, too.

He circled his wife's waist with his arms and pressed the side of his face against her abdomen, his entire being feeling whole once more.

"Yeah," he placed a light kiss on her belly. "He does."

xxxXXXxxx

The doctors had been baffled when he had opened his eyes. And they had been even more perplexed when they realized that he was healthy enough to be discharged only two days after regaining consciousness, despite the state he had been brought into the hospital a week ago – as long as there was someone overseeing and supporting his recovery at home, wherever that was for now.

Without hesitation, Pepper Potts had immediately taken to the task.

And even though Tony had enjoyed being the center of her undivided attention for almost two days in a row now while they continued their already way-too-extended stay in Moscow's top-of-the-line hotel, her constant hovering over everything he did or tried to do was starting to get on his nerves. Fast.

"Woman, I'm not falling apart, you know? I can get a glass of water on my own. It's, like, five feet from here to the fridge."

"But you could get dizzy and fall!"

"Or I could catch pneumonia from using the cold water dispenser of the fridge and die."

"That's not funny, Tony!" Pepper poked him on the chest with every word just spoken, but then winced at thinking she had just hurt him with her barely-felt show of physical strength.

"Pepper–"

"No! You know you could've gotten pneumonia up on the mountain. Maybe you still can. You-you… you're still recovering and your immune system is already compromised while you get better and–"

Tony held her gently by her upper arms and stared directly into her pleading eyes, knowing exactly where her rambling was going to lead if he did not put a stop to it: him being chained to the bed again. And not in a way that excited him one bit.

"Honey: I. Am. Fine. I promise," he cupped her left cheek with his right hand. "I'm feeling so much better because you've taken such good care of me. So much better that I can walk my ass to the kitchen and make myself a sandwich."

"A sandwich?" she furrowed her brow. "I thought you said you wanted water. You want a sandwich now? Are you hungry? You want to eat?"

"Pep, sweetheart, it was a figure of speech. An example. I'm not hungry. Just thirsty. Getting thirstier the more I beg to be allowed to get a drink myself."

"I can get you a drink."

"Yes. You could…"

Taking his partial answer for agreement, the redhead tried to pull away from him to head to the kitchen to fetch what he needed, but the genius quickly held her in place by bear-hugging her waist.

"No-no. That was not an: _OK, go get that for me, Pep_. It was more of a: _Please don't let me feel like a useless prick_."

"You're not useless."

Tony narrowed his eyes at her and tilted his head questioningly. "But I'm a prick?"

"Sometimes," she said with shifting eyes before shaking her head. "But that's not the point, Tony. I'm supposed to be taking care of you."

"And that's _my_ point: you did. You have. And I'm all better. My boo-boo's fixed. See?" he released his grip on her and then jumped in place twice. "I'm cured."

Pepper eyed him up and down, disbelief written all over her features, and she then placed her palm over his forehead, refusing to give up without a fight.

"Did you hit your head when you showered this morning?"

Tony hung his head, closed his eyes and sighed.

He wanted to scream that he had not hurt himself when he had been allowed to shower on his own this morning. He wanted to yell at her to give him the space he had been deprived of since leaving the hospital. He wanted to shout to everyone that would listen that he was more than just fine and that, if he was not allowed to be a free man with free will any time soon and resume their already-very-delayed business trip, he was going to go back to Mount Elbrus on foot just to prove his point that he was more than ready to take care of himself.

He wanted to do this all and more, but he also did not want to upset the woman that had been overly protective of him just because she cared about him that much.

"I'm sorry," he heard her say as she took a step back from him, gnawing at her bottom lip in nervousness and poorly repressed guilt. "I know you don't like to be crowded like this. I just…"

"You're worried," he supplied, and the ginger reluctantly nodded.

"And paranoid," she admitted, rubbing her temples with her fingertips when she felt her eyes begin to sting. "I know you're better. I can see it in your face. In how you move. You're fine. You're great. So much better… I _know_ that. But all my eyes want me to see is you at the hospital. Pale, on that bed. With the doctors telling me you're probably not gonna make it… Knowing it's all my fault."

"Whoa! Time out!" Tony closed the distance between them and held her hands in his. "Thought we went over this when I woke up, Pep. What I did? What happened? Not your fault. Not anyone's fault, really. Just what had to be done, all right?"

Surprisingly, the redhead's crestfallen demeanor immediately changed, as if something inside her had been triggered by his offhand response.

"What _had_ to be done?" she pulled her hands away from him and took several steps back, as if his words of just now had burned her, cautioning the genius that whatever she had been holding back since he had woken up at the hospital was about to finally come out.

"Yes," he said in what he hoped was a neutral tone, nonetheless. "I did what had to be done."

"You didn't _have_ to leave the shelter," she bit out.

Tony rubbed the back of his neck at what he knew was coming his way; his experience with her current pose and tone of voice warning him that whatever response he had for her, it was not going to be good enough.

"If we wanted to be rescued, Pepper: yes, I did."

"You could've taken _me_ with you."

"Are we really doing this?" Tony asked, his face wincing in a way that showed how much he did not want to argue with her over this just now. Or ever.

"You said you were fine," she threw back at him as she crossed her arms over her chest and he groaned.

"OK. Fine. You were exhausted. Asleep! You had taken care of me for hours."

"And you had taken care of me before that. Carried me in the dark, in a winter storm, with very little cover and help! I should've been out there with you!"

"Nope. You're wrong. You see, me doing that? Taking you with me? That would've defeated the goal, Pep. It... if…. if you'd died out there, it-it… you know it would've _killed_ me."

"AND YOU DYING ON ME BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO SAVE ME WOULD'VE KIL–"

The rest of her obvious response was silenced by his lips on hers, not wanting to continue hearing her blame herself for his choice. She responded to him more fervently than he had hoped she would; her hands pulling him towards her by clinging onto the front of his t-shirt, stopping only after nearly a minute of kissing to breathe in. The moment their lips parted, however, he expected her to push him away or for her to pull back once the realization of what they had done dawned on her. Yet, what she did instead of either option took him by surprise.

She kept her left hand on his chest while the other hesitantly slid down his front, her eyes following the path that her fingers traced towards their final destination while Tony could only stand there and take deep, shuddering breaths. She was deliberate in her movements to give Tony a chance to prevent them, but he made no attempt to do so. When her hand reached the hem of his shirt, her other one joined it and she began to slowly pull it up, feeling relieved when Tony did not hesitate to raise his arms to allow the clothing item to be removed. As soon as the t-shirt hit the floor, Pepper busied herself drawing random patterns on his chest and stomach with her fingers, carefully caressing the fading bruises he still had from all the times he had been injured during this trip.

Yolandi's attempt at having her way with him against his will by tying him to her bed. The explosion at the restaurant in Dhaka. His fight against her kidnappers. Her naked body hitting his own when he had shielded her from hitting the bottom of the shower when their moment together had been interrupted by a storm shaking their jet. His ordeal to protect her in the snow.

Times, all of them, when he had been hurt.

Times, all of them, when she could have lost him once and for all.

When she lifted her head and her gaze found his, it was full of conviction and assuredness. He could see the determination and decision in her eyes, but he did not dare take the next step unless she clearly guided him towards making it. Her hands on him had felt like heaven. Her lips massaging his had taken away his thirst. But taking someone's shirt off after kissing them did not really amount to giving consent.

Nevertheless, he did not break eye-contact with her. Not even when she began pulling on the strings of his pajama pants.

"Pepper," he closed his eyes and felt his blood rush south, her nimble fingers making quick work of the knot that kept his pants barely above his waist. She did not immediately pull down on them as he had expected her to do so, but she did rub her palms against his sides and brushed her nose up his neck.

"Is this wrong?" she whispered to him. "Should I stop?"

"God, no," he replied, his eyes snapping open. "Don't stop."

"Help me?" she asked as she took a tiny step back and placed his hands on her blouse, giving him enough room to help her dispose of her thin clothes as he pleased. This was the sure sign he had been waiting for to prove that this was what she wanted. That it was him that she wanted, right now. And he was not going to do anything to make her believe that he was not as on board with it as she was. But it also did not mean that he was going to simply rush being with her.

He took his time unbuttoning her blouse, and then did so too when his hands slid up and down her arms to take the garment off her. He took an eternity kissing her face and neck as he guided her towards the edge of the bed, his hands grabbing at whatever they could from her shoulders and down to the back of her thighs. He further proved that he was well on the road to recovery when he surprised her by picking her up by her legs and helping her hook them around his waist, right before she found her back being pressed against the mattress with Tony on top of her between her legs.

He separated them for a brief instant to rid himself of his pants before he claimed her mouth again, hungrier than he had done so, just seconds before. He then trailed a path of kisses down her neck and collarbone, his hands sliding down the straps of her bra just enough for her mounds to be exposed to him without having to unclasp the entire thing. He took one peak into his mouth and massaged the other, leaving him a free hand to press against her lower back. With this purchase, he pulled up her hips towards his to rub against his pelvis, teasing her with the friction he craved to create with her. Her throaty moan and the raking of her nails against his back was enough to know that she was willing to keep going, so he did as she pleased.

Tired of the barriers in the way, Pepper undid her bra the rest of the way with one hand when Tony took a second too long in between swapping his attention to her other breast. The inventor responded by pulling his face away from her chest and then pinning her arms above her head with both of his hands. Pepper was breathing hard under him, her pupils dilated and her chest rising and lowering with her panting, but she did not question him. Instead, she licked her lips and waited almost patiently for his next move; completely trusting him with her body and her needs. He had never let her down in this regard. She doubted he would do so now.

In line with the expectations, Tony let go of her hands; his eyes telling her she was to stay as she was until told otherwise. Knowing the message had been understood, the genius began his slow descent on her body, taking the two final clothing items of hers with him on his way down. Pepper closed her eyes and bit down her bottom lip, full well knowing what was coming next. He did not make her wait long for it either and, soon enough, the ginger was wrinkling the sheets with her hands, panting and moaning Tony's name.

Every now and then, Tony would lift his gaze to watch her squirm under his ministrations. He loved seeing the way her neck would extend as far as it would go, her mouth opened without a sound coming out of it other than some random and brief cries of pleasure. She would then gasp loudly and throw her head from side to side, gladly agreeing with whatever he was doing down there to her. Then, when her toes started to curl in a way that, no matter how many times he had seen, he had never believed was humanly possible, he stopped in his tracks and abruptly pulled away from her.

The look of disbelief on her face at how he had just left her was almost amusing to him.

Almost.

He was going to pay for that latter, he was sure. Or at least he hoped he would.

Not wanting her to get the wrong impression, however, he finished divesting himself and climbed back on her, choosing to attack her neck next. Pepper could feel him ready for her as she was for him, making her even more irritated with his pace than she already was. When she tried to position herself so that he had a clear path into her, Tony shifted his hips so that they did not align, forcing a cry of frustration to slip from her lips.

"Sorry, Honey," he purred in her ear. "I want to, but not yet."

"Tony…"

He rubbed his fingers against the bundle of nerves he had just been teasing with his mouth and she gasped in anticipation, the already sensitive area reacting to his touch almost instantly.

"Not yet, Pep. Not yet."

"OK," she reluctantly nodded at him, admitting defeat this time around despite the burning sensation in her loins and the almost painful coiling of her insides. If he was taking his time, it meant it was going to be worth the payoff… if she survived the many times he would leave her hanging until it was done.

Time and time again, in any way possible and with different parts of his body, he brought her closer and closer to the edge each time, and each time he left her feeling unsatisfied and wanting more. Every pore of his body touched every pore of hers. Every angle he could reach inside her, he touched. He joined with her in different positions and at varying rhythms and lengths that he fully led and directed the entire time. He made her shiver and cry, moan and beg. Scream and cuss at him for his inability to finally commit.

Yet, in the end, he let her take the wheel on top of him. It was the least he could do after all the merciless teasing he had put her through: let her take from him what he owed her for as long as she wanted and how she wanted it. It was a win-win situation, in his eyes: she chased her release in her own way, and he got to watch her get herself there.

And then, when she was finally done, exhausted from the effort and satiated, he flipped them over. He brushed his pelvis against her, waited for her to recover her bearings and realize he was still at attention, and then smiled smugly at her when she furrowed her brow.

"Did you… did you not…?"

Tony shook his head and winked at her.

"Not yet, Honey. Not yet."

"But… I mean, we… a lot and… why?"

"I told you that I am fine," he reminded her, his hand feeling for signs that she was ready for the next round. "So fine that I'm not done with you. Unless… unless _you_ are?"

Her heart began racing again at the huskiness of his voice and the look of desire in his eyes.

"I'm not. But, I'm spent. I don't think I can move much."

"I know," he teased her opening and she gasped, her body already wanting him again. "I'm counting on that."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hope this kind of makes up for the long-ass wait for this chapter. My next task is to try to reconstruct the notes, drafts and outline that I lost. I really want to finish this story this year: y'all have waited long enough :) (TOO long!) As always, thank you so much for your patience and understanding. Still here for you all!


	13. Chapter 12: Hong Kong

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Stark13: Thanks for this chapter ! And yes you're forgiven with this chapter but i'm so in need for more now ! Hope life will be better and happier for you soon. Bye and read you soon. I feel with you –** YES! I am forgiven! Here's some more. I have half of the next two chapters ready (have to skip around a little, for the sake of plot). Not much happening here, but whatever does happen is satisfying, I think.

 **Pepperonylove: As always, I am so thrilled to see your update! I wanna screammmmm! I love them together! Pls dont take too long to write the next chapter. Reading this makes me forget all my worries in real life lols.**

 **(On a serious note, hope you are doing okay now. Have a good rest and have a blast on your birthday! Happy birthday dear! :) ) –** I had a great birthday! Did a whole lot of nothing but write for all of you! Hope this "quick" update is what you were expecting. Thanks for the good wishes and the love 3

 **Guest: Thanks for still thinking of us your avid followers. Despite your struggle you never lose hope and can still give a beautiful story. You're not just a good writer you are also an inspiration. –** There isn't a moment I don't think about how much I've been letting all of you down with my lack of updates. I'm so sorry! Got a speedy update this time, though :) Hope you like it!

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Hong Kong**

 _She had hoped a miracle happened and he was already at the office in SI, but the place was as deserted as it could be. Pepper was so early at headquarters that not even Bambi was available. It was just her, her guilt and her former office._

 _She looked up at the clock and realized she would not have to wait for long. Bambi or Tony could walk in any minute now. It was a crucial day for Tony, after all: he was speaking at the MIT Alumni Conference. Finally. After years and years of hounding him about speaking at his Alma Matter, the genius was at last making good on his promise and was making up for lost time._

 _He was going to pay for everyone's research in that room. He could not make up more for his previous cancellations than with that._

 _And this was why she was here, waiting for him to show up: to make sure he understood the consequences of such an action. The legal ramifications of it. The business implications of it all._

 _What if they funded some new killbot that destroyed half the world? What if they inadvertently funded the next bioweapon that was used to take as many lives as possible? What if they funded a crazy asshole hellbent on destroying humankind? What if they funded something worse than they could ever imagine, no questions asked on their part?_

 _She knew that Tony did not need any more_ _ **oops moments**_ _added to his track-record. Ultron had been enough._

 _Realizing that she was probably going to be here at least half an hour, Pepper reluctantly slumped into the executive chair and pretended not to stare at the trashcan by the corner entrance of the room. It was ridiculous that such a small and trivial item still made her eyes water and her throat close, but it was expected from anyone experiencing depression after suffering multiple miscarriages that the smallest of things would break them down. Especially when the pain of said experiences was being carried alone._

 _By choice, yes. But still_ _ **alone**_ _._

 _The mind was a powerful thing, but it did not hold a candle to hormonal imbalance. And the hormonal imbalance that had followed her last miscarriage had made her do something she had never imagined she would do. Something she could not take back._

 _Wanting to find something else to focus on before her heart took the reins, Pepper's gaze shifted from staring at the trashcan to perusing the papers on Tony's desk. As usual, the top of the desk was barely visible; stacks of papers and folders covered almost every inch of it, and she was unable to fight the urge to clean it up. Before she could stop herself, she began sorting through the papers as if it were still her job to do so, quickly glancing at the documents to determine how to best pile them up._

 _She first gathered all the ones that appeared to be schematics for new inventions and stacked them all together before putting them inside a folder in whatever order she had gathered them. Only Tony would know how they went, anyway, but they were now at least out of the way. She then picked out takeout food receipts and already crumpled papers and threw them in the closer trashcan to the desk. Much to her disappointment, she also found printouts of internet memes and prank descriptions with Happy's name one them, making her roll her eyes at the waste of perfectly good paper and ink._

 _Pile by pile, she was able to return to the desk a resemblance of professional neatness until all that was left were documents that, at first glance, appeared to be unconnected. A few of them looked to be parts of a letter, while the others appeared to be invoices or MOUs. Not wanting to miscategorize something or throw away important documents, the ginger stacked all the remaining papers and began reading them one-by-one._

 _What had appeared to be a letter, was actually a draft of Tony's speech for the MIT Alumni Conference – the reason she was here. As soon as this became evident to her, she quickly sorted through the remainder of the stack to pick out anything that looked like a letter. Once she got all the similar-looking papers together, she ordered the pages by number, and then began skimming through the document, hoping to see if Tony had reconsidered his idea of giving away millions of dollars with no strings attached. As she browsed the contents of the paper, she saw a smaller-scale version of his mentioning the donation, but she also saw that this speech was unlike the final draft that he had sent her a week ago for her to review. In fact, this draft seemed to be an extremely early version of it – almost a year old, in fact, given the usage of certain phrases and the timing of events listed on some of the bullet points._

 _Tony had known about this conference over a year ago but, as far as she knew, he had not been obsessing over it, let alone preparing for it. She had been under the impression that he had put together the speech but a few weeks ago, apparently in a rush. Nevertheless, the evidence before her showed a rather different picture: one in which Tony Stark had been overly excited about this conference to the point that he had written an extensive speech, months in advance._

 _What could have triggered this unusual behavior in him? Had his initial drafts been more insane than his final one? Why had he been so excited about the conference that he could not wait to write it down? Curiosity got the best of her, as it almost always did and, when she reached the last page – the part where he was to introduce her to the crowd – the first line made her gasp._

 _As soon as she read the introduction, she knew she should have stopped. But she did not._

" _ **But all of this could not be possible without one special person. The one person who truly made this happen today thanks to their vision, their perseverance, tenacity, and business acumen. And no, this time, I'm not talking about myself. If there's one person that you should all be thanking for this generous gesture, it's someone who's not on stage, yet. And, as personal favor, I'd like to ask your help in welcoming her. Please, give a round of applause to the brains behind The September Foundation Grant; my CEO, partner-in-crime, best friend and beloved**_ _ **fiancée**_ _ **wife(?): Pepper Potts."**_

 _Beloved wife. He had called her:_ _ **beloved wife**_ _._

 _He had written the speech, months ago, expecting her to by now be his wife._

xxxXXXxxx

It was her damn fault. She knew it was.

She had known it the moment the Board Members had informed them about this impromptu business trip. Back then, she had immediately told herself that, if anything too personal happened between them while performing their professional duties of SI, it would be because _she_ would let Tony do so. Because not only would _she_ be the one to initiate it, but she would also _not_ stop it. Because she would give Tony the all-clear to engage in activities that had nothing to do with the goal of the trip itself. Because he respected her too much to force her to do something she did not want to do with him. And because he loved her so much that he would do whatever she asked of him.

Just as she had done so first in Moscow, two nights ago. And how she was doing so right now, for the third time.

She should have probably stopped it sooner. Immediately, actually. The moment it had begun. Without question or hesitation. In fact, it probably should have not even started in the first place, but she had encouraged it. She should have pushed him off _and_ out of her, and told him that this was wrong and not happening again. That it should have not happened the last night at their hotel room in Moscow, and that it should have not happened on their jet while on their way to China, and that it definitely should not be happening just an hour before they were to meet with Enlai Wang, their investor in Hong Kong, for a very important yet rushed meeting with him because their entire itinerary for this trip had been cut short the moment Tony had walked out into the snowstorm.

Yes. This is what she ought to do: stop it. Promptly. Stopping it _was_ the right thing to do, seeing as they were not officially together anymore. Seeing as she had broken it off with him, long ago. Seeing as she had not yet told him the real reason why she had declined his marriage proposal. Seeing as she was being as ambiguous about and uncommitted to her decisions as she had once accused him of being.

Yes. She should have put an end to it.

Nipped it in the bud.

Halted it altogether.

Killed it before it grew.

But damn it all, it just felt so good!

 _He_ felt _so_ good.

How the hell was she supposed to ask him to stop now?

"Oh, God, yes!" her words were only just barely comprehensible; more of a muffled cry in a high-pitched voice against his bare shoulder – and he had not been any better than her at putting coherent words together. Yet, her moans, his grunts, and their matched panting had been as clear as day in portraying how they truly felt about what they were doing right now.

"Oh, shit! _Shit_!"

They were lucky that their hotel room in Hong Kong was the only one on this floor, and that it was as secluded and as private as it was. The power of Tony's hip movements had been shaking the bed so much that she swore that the hinges were about to come apart. She had been so lost in the feelings that he had been invoking in her that she would have not even care if the entire bed collapsed under them right now and they ended up going through the floor, buck-naked as they were, giving everyone on the bottom floor quite the peep show. And she was certain that Tony would not care at all either. At least not right now. They had gone months without sex until three days ago. And before that, before their breakup, they had not had sex in weeks, either.

The overwhelming sensations were definitely overdue.

"Oh, _fuck_ , Pepper! Fuuuuck!"

Pepper's eyes closed and her nails scratched his back the moment he started bucking against her erratically, or as much as she could scratch him with how sweaty and slick their skins were. She knew what the less-than-graceful movements meant. She knew that they were happening because it was all going to be over soon. She knew it because she could feel it happening to her, too – helping each other reach the end of the road they had hopped onto as soon as they had woken up. His cry of pleasure near her ear was the final proof that she had been correct in her suspicions all along. His name coming out raggedly from her lips was enough evidence for him that he had gotten her there, too.

The tremors of the aftershocks that followed were just that much more satisfying with his careful weight on her. She knew that it was taking a lot out of him to stay on top of her without crushing her, especially after the amount of energy he had exerted, which pushed her to take the time to kiss his face, neck, and shoulders for his efforts. He was shaking and panting all-to-be-damned, but he still mustered up enough energy to find her lips and return the kisses while lightly rubbing their joined pelvises together, if only just to prolong the pleasure he knew that they both felt right now.

After their lips parted, he peppered her neck with languid kisses, tracing a random path along whatever skin of hers he could reach as he lowered himself on her. He took his time kissing her breasts, her shoulders, her arms and hands, relishing when she shivered with the remnants of her climax being retriggered by his touch. He finally then rested the left side of his face on her chest, inhaled her scent and closed his eyes.

Pepper felt him relax where he lay, but not too much to keep her from being able to breathe. Her right hand landed on the back of his head and she began massaging his scalp and running her fingers through his hair and neck. She felt him exhale and practically purr against her ribs when her nails scratched him, and then felt his arms surround her waist. He had not even bothered to pull out of her just yet, and she was in no hurry to remind him to do so.

She closed her eyes and remained as still as possible to not disturb his recovery time even though they both needed to be in a meeting in forty-five minutes. If they pushed their luck and took ten more minutes to regain their strength, they would have just enough time to shower, dress, and haul ass out of their room to make it to their destination on the dot. The location of the meeting was just a couple of blocks down the street from their hotel. And thanks to Anton surviving the storm – because _of course_ he did, as one does when one is a thrill-seeking Russian man – and keeping his promise to thrice his investment after crazy camping with him, neither Tony nor Pepper had to make friends with the rest of the investors to make ends meet with the Foundation's funds, if they did not feel like it. As far as the numbers went, they were done with their job.

Nevertheless, duty would always call for the redhead, and she did not want to burn any bridges that neither of them knew if or when they would need again in the future. It was the nature of the beast – scratching someone's back today so that yours could be scratched later.

She kept an eye on the clock, noting how much time she had left until she would have to start shaking Tony awake to get ready to leave their room, but when he began lifting his head from her and he finally pulled out of her, she realized that he had not really been asleep. He slowly slid up her body once more, until his face was on par with hers, and he began kissing her again.

Slowly but surely, while never breaking the kiss, his arms grabbed her thighs, squeezed them, and then placed her legs around his waist. He then held her by her lower back and ass as he lifted them both off the bed, making sure she was not going to slip from his grip before he began walking them towards the bathroom. He opened one eye here and there to ensure his path was free of obstructions, and by the time Pepper felt her back touch something solid again, it was the wall of the shower stall he had taken them into. He sloppily turned on the showerhead with one hand, waited until steam surrounded them, and then finally pulled his lips from hers to breathe.

"I know we have to go," he whispered to her as he pressed their foreheads together and then placed quick pecks on her lips between his words, not wanting to release her from his embrace just yet, "But I don't want to leave. I want to stay here with you, all day. Be inside you, all day. As long as you let me, that's all I want to do."

Pepper closed her eyes and bit her lower lip, her toes curling at imagining them doing just that, while also enjoying the scraping of his goatee against her skin. She would not mind a repeat of this morning, or of the night before, or of the night before that. Tony had always been a very dedicated and enthusiastic lover, but the past three times they had slept together, he had outdone himself. He had left her feeling both satiated _and_ unfulfilled – something she had never thought was possible to do. He had kissed every inch of her, lit every pore on fire, all the while making her feel as if pleasing her was his only job in the world.

Or maybe, it just felt like it because it had been a rather long time since they had been together like this. Or maybe, it was just the result of the added thrill of knowing that they were not supposed to be doing this in the first place. The forbidden aspect of it truly helped amp up the sensations, even if the _forbidden_ part was just all in her head.

 _As long as you let me_ , he had said just now, because his understanding of this unexpected turn of events was clearer to him than it was to her – because they both knew that she was currently very much going back on her word of never being like this with him again, but he was not going to call her out on it because he was not an idiot. Because neither of them knew how long this was going to last, and he was damned if he allowed himself to do or say anything that would break the spell.

Thankfully for him, she had no problem keeping up with the charade either; her body and desire doing most of the talking for her.

"We can. As soon as we're done for today," she promised him, her hormones speaking for her brain. "We have nothing else to do. We leave tomorrow for Tokyo. It's close by. We don't have to be up early for it."

"Okay," he began sucking on her neck, not caring that he had done so much of it already that he was sure to leave a mark. "I can wait. Sorta. Maybe. Perhaps. Possibly. Perchance. Feasibly. Conceivably."

Pepper giggled at his words, pulling from him a smile and an exhale of contentment before he spoke again. "Think we can shower like this? Not having to pull apart?"

"I'd be willing to find out."

"Oh, _yeah_. Me too, baby. For science and all, of course. You in, then?"

Pepper's laughter was her only response, but it was all he needed to carry her with him to the shower stream and test out the theory that they could clean themselves while wrapped around the other.

The final result? They actually could.

xxxXXXxxx

 _There were more kind words about her in the final part of the speech; of how he owed her for helping him turn his life around – how she was the reason why he woke up every day to face the perils of the life he had chosen to live. How she was his rock and his guiding star, and the reason why he was standing here today. He told of how they, the audience, needed to find that one person that made them feel like Pepper did him: larger than life – able to take on the entire universe, if it came to it. Because, he had said, this was the only way to make it through the hard times they had ahead. By having someone who believed in you when you did not believe in yourself._

 _But she would never know what else he had said about her, because Pepper could not make herself read the rest of it. What she had read so far was already tearing her at the seams. She could not force herself to stomach any more of it, no matter how generous his words were about her._

 _She placed the speech document face down, as far from her as her arm and the desk's width allowed her, and she then focused on the remaining papers._

 _But she should not have._

 _As she read the remaining papers in her hand, it turned out that the invoices and MOUs were related: the invoices were receipts of prepaid services for a wedding and a honeymoon –_ _ **their**_ _wedding and honeymoon. From the reception, to the music, to the flights and the_ _ **island**_ _he had reserved for their month-long honeymoon; everything was accounted for. Everything allowed for a change made by the bride, if she so desired, but it guaranteed the rendering of products and services within a week's notice. The MOUs were an extension of said contracts, granting a temporary cancelation of them with a possibility of actually providing the already paid-for goods and services, due to an unforeseen delay in the wedding plans. An unforeseen delay that had come in the form of Pepper Potts and Tony Stark breaking up._

 _Paper after paper, it became obvious the extent to which Tony had gone to make sure their wedding had everything she had always wanted. Details that she had mentioned in passing, sometimes jokingly so, about what would constitute her perfect wedding were all there; even the ones that she had thought he had not paid enough attention to or had not even heard because he had been tinkering with his suits. The location of the reception; possible honeymoon vacation options; the type of flowers; the band…_

 _ **Everything**_ _. Everything that she had ever said that related to a wedding – their wedding, it was all there._

 _And then, at the bottom of the pile of invoices and memorandums of understanding, was the last straw. The last piece that made her leave the office and cancel her presence at the MIT conference she was supposed to attend today. The last hit to the heart that she could take for the day: a prenuptial agreement; a living and a dying will – all documents that said that she was his medical proxy; his voice if he were unable to speak. The final say in any decision that he could not mentally make for himself. The sole inheritor of everything he ever owned._

 _Her and any children she might ever bear him._

 _Only, she could no longer bear him any._

xxxXXXxxx

This, they had not expected, but in hindsight, they should have.

It had not been a secret that Tony had tried braving a storm while in Moscow _for the sake of saving his wife's life_ – as the media had put it, ensuring sales of their magazines by exaggerating the events. Neither had it been a secret that he had been in the hospital because of it. It had been also not a secret that his heart had stopped on his way to the hospital, or that he had been unconscious for a few days. Therefore, as soon as their meeting with their investor had ended, Tony had received a very odd phone call, which had landed them both where they currently were: him in yet another hospital room, shirtless and on a gurney; and her standing outside the room he was in, looking at him through a glass wall.

He had been locking eyes with her whenever he could – offering her a smile to let her know that he was all right, but she could not help to feel and look scared by the whole thing. The memories that got triggered by the similar scene could simply not be helped. The fear that something wrong would be found with his already frail heart after failing him twice was inevitable.

It was as if she was back in time, years ago, watching the surgery that removed the shrapnel from his heart while Rhodey stood by her for support. Who could blame her for it, really? It was the same city, the same hospital, almost the same room, and the same doctor poking and prodding her man's chest. The only difference was that the metal was already out of his system, and that he was wide awake during this unplanned follow-up.

Nevertheless, and as much as she hated being here again, she was grateful that Dr. Wu had given them a call. He had heard in the news what had happened while in Moscow, and he had wanted to personally check that the incident had not affected Tony's heart. It had been years since he had had the surgery, but it had been highly experimental and innovative at best.

 _Better be safe than sorry about it_ , Tony had told her.

It was reasonable and safe, doing what he was doing. But that did not make it easier to watch, especially when he would barely hold back a flinch of pain or discomfort while he was being checked on. It did not ease her conscience or lessened her sense of guilt, either. In fact, it made it worse. To think that he had been straining his heart for the past three days while being with her. To think that he could have had a heart attack on her, for all they knew. It was so easy to forget that Tony's heart had been severely damaged for years. That his health, overall, had not been ideal for so long. So easy to forget that, despite the advances in medicine and science, unless he got a brand-new heart, the risk of his failing on him would always be there. Especially since he had yet to give up being a superhero. Especially since he would probably die being one, too.

Suddenly, her decision to part ways with him was not so silly after all. Yet, at the same time, not spending as much as time as she could while he was still alive also sounded stupid as fuck.

What fresh hell was this?

This was probably what Mrs. Abbiati felt when she had found out that her husband was going to die very soon. This was probably the same dilemma the poor woman had encountered when it was obvious to her that life had made a crucial decision for her.

 _I wonder how Piero is_ , Pepper frowned as she stared at her phone's screen, as if it had the answer for her. They had not heard anything from Venice since they had left, but she knew that this was probably a good thing. The Abbiati were well-known across the globe – the death of either one of them would surely make front-page news in no time.

As would Tony's, when the time came.

She shook her head to perish the thought and then looked up again to continue watching Tony undergo whatever tests Dr. Wu was running on him. They were both smiling and nodding, which could only mean that he was doing OK – or, not putting it past the billionaire, that he had just been given bad news and he had asked the doctor to act as if he was all right.

Pepper sighed and looked away again.

Loving Tony Stark would be the end of her.

xxxXXXxxx

"Any strenuous activity since the incident, Mr. Stark?" Dr. Wu asked with an eyebrow pointing behind him to where Pepper stood.

Tony shrugged, taking advantage of the soundproof glass wall between him and the redhead to be as honest as possible with the doctor.

"My wife is hot. And we're on sort of a vacation. What else should we do in between meetings? Talk? Can you blame me?"

"I guess I can't," Dr. Wu grinned and shook his head. "Congratulations on your wedding, by the way. Nice to see you finally set some roots."

"Thanks. It was a long time coming, some might say."

Dr. Wu did not directly reply to Tony's comment, but the face he made as he started peeling off the EKG sensors from Tony's chest showed that he agreed with the statement.

"Well, Mr. Stark, you seem to be OK. Your heart is holding up all right. The media overstated the incident, it seems. I can only conclude that your heart stopped because of the weather affecting your circulation and how much you had stressed your body without much protection from the elements. You're in no worse condition that you were after we took out the metal from your heart."

"I figured," Tony said as he jumped off the gurney and began putting on his shirt again. "But still thanks for giving me a call and checking that I'm OK. I don't know how I would tell the wife that I can't make her happy again for a while. It's like our second honeymoon."

Dr. Wu snickered and rolled his eyes, his mind taking him back to the time when he had first met Tony during that conference in Sweden, talking about the same topic, as he had been hitting on Maya Hansen just because she had been there. The inventor had come a long way since then. But that was probably what being kidnapped by terrorists would do to anyone. Granted, it could have also broken him. Yet, in Tony's case, it had given him the kick in the ass that he had needed.

"All right. That's all I have for you," the doctor finally said when Tony had put on the rest of his clothes and his shoes, and had refilled his pockets with his personal effects.

"Thanks," Tony shook the man's hand and then spared his redhead a glance. "Hey, uhm, can I ask you for one last favor? Hopefully, it's not too much to ask?"

The doctor narrowed his eyes in curiosity and then followed the path Tony's gaze was taking. He was staring directly at Pepper, a smile on his face that his wife was not returning as enthusiastically. It did not take a genius to put two and two together, and the doctor sighed when he realized what the inventor was about to ask him to do.

"Think she won't believe you if you tell her you're OK?"

"She won't believe it at all, unless she hears it from you. And she'll still doubt it a little bit."

Dr. Wu held back a groan.

"Fine. But I want a Stark phone for free whenever those come out."

"It'll be at your home within 2-3 business days before public sale."

Despite the awkward request, the doctor laughed right along on his way out the door.

xxxXXXxxx

He had been quiet for a few minutes now, but she knew that he was not asleep. His breathing was still ragged from their activity. His front was still pressed against her back, right where it had been as he had taken her from the side, and he was still holding onto her left leg over his hip. His free hand had gone from its previous position on her pubic mound to gently massaging her breasts. And he was now licking and sucking the junction of her neck and her left shoulder, enjoying the goosebumps the motion caused on her.

Even after being with her so often for the past three days, and for so many years, in fact, it appeared as if he was yet to have enough of her.

He continued to take from her body what he needed for a few more minutes, before he finally sighed and opted to simply hug her from behind. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the back of her head, and then exhaled slowly into her neck, pressing a light kiss to the area there before whispering to her.

"Do you believe in out-of-body experiences, Pep?"

Surprisingly, the redhead did not immediately answer him, nor did she mock him for asking something that was so out of line with his usual line of thinking. Instead, she seemed to seriously consider his inquiry for a very long time before finally granting him an honest response.

"I think that's one of the things that don't really matter if someone believes in them or not, because they are as hard to prove as they are to disprove. They can happen to everyone, or they can happen to no one, and people will still wonder or even doubt if they're real or not."

Tony's immediate retort was a noncommittal hum.

"Have you ever had one? Or think that you did?"

Pepper shook her head lightly.

"In the way that people usually describe the experience – seeing yourself float above your body; watching your physical form from a distance while no one realizes you're standing right there, watching yourself die? No. Nothing like that."

Tony hummed again. "What about the aftermath of it? When you're already dead, even if you don't know you are, right away, but then something gives it away, and you realize you're somewhat in between. Maybe more on the other side than on this one?"

"A near-death experience, you mean?"

"Yeah. Yeah, that's what I meant."

Pepper wiggled a little bit to find a more comfortable position while she put her thoughts in order, knowing that, as weird as the conversation was turning out to be, it was important to Tony for some reason. She was not sure where he was headed just yet, though she had her suspicions. More than anything, however, she cared enough to help him get to whatever point he was trying to make. If there was one thing that she had learned about him over the years, it was that it would take him a while to get to the point where he would openly talk about his feelings and fears, and that, once he did, he expected the person he had chosen to be vulnerable with to take him as seriously as humanly possible, regardless of the apparent randomness of the timing and topic at hand.

Plus, she also knew, that only truth and honesty would do for him in moments like these.

"One time, when I was in college, during finals to top it off, I got the worst cold I had ever had in my life. I was so high on medicine and tea, that I don't know how I was still functioning and studying. It was December, too, cold as hell – so unusual for California, and the heater had gone out in our building because it was old and probably not used to the extreme winter that year. I bought a very, very small space heater and took it with me around the room because it wouldn't heat up more than just a couple of feet from it. I had on a lot of clothes, but I could barely stay warm and hold onto my books to read. I was so miserable."

Wanting a closer connection with him while she relayed her story, Pepper turned around in place until she was on her back. Tony adjusted his position to hold his head on his bent left arm, and then partly threw his body on top of hers, if just to keep some sort of physical linking between them. His eyes locked on her face, and his free hand softly caressed her stomach and the valley between her breasts.

"Anyway. It got to the point that, no matter what I did, I just couldn't breathe through my nose, and whatever I could inhale through my mouth just wasn't enough. So, I got up from bed and went to the bathroom. My roommate was out, taking a final of her own, so I knew I had enough time to take a bath. Maybe the steam would open my nostrils. I had just taken a bunch of medicine, too, so I thought, maybe I wasn't giving it enough time to do its thing. Maybe, if I took a bath and relaxed a little bit, I'd feel so much better in half an hour or so and I could finish studying for my test."

Pepper breathed in deeply, her eyes suddenly losing focus as she recalled the rest of the story.

"I didn't read the labels of the medicine I took. Two of them didn't play nice with each other. I thought I was finally relaxing. Feeling better. But I was actually losing consciousness. In the tub. Full of water. With no one in the room to help me or hear me if I tried to call for help. I felt so heavy. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I don't even remember passing out.

"Next thing I knew, I saw my grandma sitting on the edge of the tub. She was just there _. Knitting_! Waiting for me to acknowledge her, I guess. It took a little bit for me to say anything to her because my tongue felt like lead. I was so thirsty. Felt so tired. I just wanted to keep sleeping, but having my grandma there, watching me take a bath, it was kind of unnerving, you know?" Pepper chuckled. "So, I finally spoke to her. I asked her what she was doing there. If she needed something. I didn't even consider that there was no way she should have been there in the first place. I just wanted to know if she needed help."

She took in a shuddering breath, and Tony instantly knew what she was going to tell him. He had known, for many years, that Pepper had been extremely close to her grandmother, even though he had never gotten the chance to meet the woman. From what he had gathered, Pepper had been devastated when she had passed away, and that had happened before he and Pepper had even met.

He had a feeling that he was about to find out more about the story of the woman's passing.

"Turns out, she was there to help me. I was drowning. The medicine had knocked me out so badly, and I had no idea the water was killing me. I couldn't feel it, you know? Dying? All I felt was wet from being in the tub and confusion from seeing my grandma knitting inside the bathroom of my college dorm room, because I knew she did not even live in California. And she _hated_ knitting because she had always said it was the sign of an old person! But she was there. Telling me to get up. Telling me it was not my time. Telling me I still had my entire life ahead of me, and that she knew I wasn't stupid enough to go before finishing my degree.

"I was so confused by her words. They didn't make sense to me. So, I got angry at her. Told her that she wasn't making any sense. But she just kept saying the same things over and over: _Get up, Ginny! You need to get up!_ It wasn't until she threw away what she was knitting and slammed her palm against the wall that I realized she was very serious. She stared at me with a disappointed, almost scared look. She shook her head and looked so angry at me, and I didn't even know why. She… she then told me that she loved me, and that I needed to wake up… and then I did."

The ginger briefly closed her eyes, recalling the moment as if it were yesterday, and then opened her eyes again to wrap up her tale.

"I started sputtering water out of my mouth. I was coughing so hard I thought I was going to spit out my lungs. I dragged myself out of the tub and landed on the floor. It was all slippery and wet. I guess I must have kicked the towel by my feet in my sleep because it was covering the overflow drain and the water had started leaking off the tub. I was gasping for air and trying to keep my face off the flooding floor when my roommate came back. Her final exam had gotten cancelled because the cold had screwed up the powerlines. She… she helped me up and took care of me while the medicine wore off. She was so scared for me. She kept an eye on me for weeks after that. If I hadn't woken up when I did… she-she would've come back to find me dead in the tub. She probably would have thought that I'd done it on purpose, with how everything was when she found me. If it hadn't been for my grandma yelling at me, telling me all those things… I would've never realized I was dying."

Pepper closed her eyes and shifted yet again. This time, she laid on her left side so that she was facing Tony, and he immediately surrounded her with his arms. He thought that the story was over after several minutes went by without her saying anything else. However, right as he was about to share with her why he had asked the question in the first place, she surprised him with the actual punchline of her ordeal.

"That night, I called my grandparents. I wanted to tell my grandma what had happened, but there was no answer. I thought it was weird, since neither of them liked to leave their house. So, I called my mom instead. I asked her if grandma was with her, and she got real quiet. She then asked me why I was asking, and I told that I'd had a dream about her, and I wanted to ask her something. I didn't want to worry my mom with what had happened, but I also needed to talk to my grandma about it. My mom then started crying, saying that they knew I had finals and they hadn't wanted to tell me about it until I was done. My grandma… she had died in her sleep. Her heart had stopped. She wasn't alive anymore when I saw her by the tub. She… she was already gone."

The redhead pressed herself closer to Tony, and he increased his grip on her.

"I know it sounds stupid, but to this day, I regret not saying goodbye to her when I had the chance. I mean, I didn't know I was saying goodbye to her. I probably wasn't even talking to her, just to my imagination – maybe it was just the instinct to survive kicking in that put her there to force me to wake up. But then maybe it _was_ real. Maybe it was her and she was there to help me one last time. And all I did was scream at her that she was making no sense and asked what she wanted. Of all the things I could've told her… of all the things I should've told her… I chose the wrong and worst ones to say."

Tony swallowed hard and kissed her forehead, knowing damn well how what she was talking about felt. Similar thoughts had crossed his mind about the last time he had spoken to his parents before the supposed car crash that had taken their lives. Similar thoughts had plagued him the moment he had failed to catch Pepper amid an Extremis soldier attack and he had watched her fall to her would-be death.

He gave her a moment to recover, knowing that there was absolutely nothing that he could tell her that would take the guilt away for something like this – he knew that firsthand. As a result, he opted to rub her back and continue kissing her forehead until it felt right to strengthen the foundation of their relationship by sharing his own experience with her instead.

"I saw my parents," his voice was soft and low, making sure that he could ease her into the conversation. "When I was asleep, in Moscow, I spoke to them. Or maybe I didn't. But it felt like I did."

When Pepper gave him a slight nod he barely felt against him, he knew that she was ready to listen to what he had to say.

"We were at the beach. Some beach. I don't know where. And I didn't find it weird either, until much later in the conversation. They were both there, joking around. My dad being an ass. Offering me a smoke. My mom being as sweet as I remember her. Putting up with my dad's arrogance. It was quite familiar, actually. Reminded me of us, to some degree. They didn't ask me to wake up, though, and I didn't feel like I was asleep, anyway. We just talked as if it was so normal to be dead. To be talking to loved ones that are dead, and about the ones we left behind. We… we talked about you. About how much I wish they would've known you. About how much I love you. About how I'd do anything for you. We talked about Barnes and what he had done to them. About how I'd done nothing to make it even. And… and they told me that it was OK that I hadn't. That it was _best_ that I hadn't. That no one should be judged by something they did when they had had no control over doing it, anyway."

Tony scoffed and shook his head, irony suddenly hitting him.

"I don't know if it was all real or not, but it did something to me. For me. It was probably cheaper than using BARF, and it was essentially the same thing. More therapeutic, too. I think."

Pepper kissed the side of his face and ran her hand down his cheek, a small smile escaping her.

"Does that mean you'll get the money back for building that thing?"

"Don't count on it," he winked at her. "I don't think that's how near-death experiences work."

"Can you at least change the name of the invention, please?"

"That, I really should."

"Yes, you should."

"How about: Visual Outer Memory Implant Technology?"

"You mean: VOMIT? How is that any better?"

"OK, OK! Wait… uhm… I got it! Projected Unfixed Knuckleheadedness Enhancer."

"Knuckle…" she shook her head and chuckled. "PUKE, really? Now you're just reaching."

"Maybe I am."

"You are."

"Got a smile out of you."

"A little one."

"I'll take it. Totally worth it."

She closed her eyes and hugged him again, breathing in his scent without shame while he did the same to her.

"Did it help?" she suddenly asked. "Talking to them, did it really help?"

He hummed in affirmation.

"As much as it could. It didn't feel like it was long enough, though. They… they said I was out for three days. And I know that I actually was, but… it didn't feel like three days while I was with them. Hell! It didn't even feel like twenty minutes. And I…" he sighed. "I didn't even think that I was coming back. Some things they said… it just didn't sound as if coming back to you was an option at that point. Or that I'd see you again someday, either. It sounded like I was stuck on that beach with them, forever and ever."

Instead of commenting on his words, Pepper simply held him tighter than she had already been, not wanting to imagine a life in which Tony was taken away from her too soon, and an afterlife in which she never got to see him again. This was why she believed in life after death, and in out-of-body and near-death experiences. Because it gave her hope that it was not all over once one bit the dust. That there was a prize for everyone that passed the test of life, and that this reward was being with your loved ones for all eternity. She wanted to believe that the land of the living was just a pit stop while waiting one's turn to make it to the real last stop everyone was destined to reach.

She wanted to believe that she had seen her grandmother after she had died. And she wanted to believe that Tony had seen his parents while he had been unconscious, because then she could claim these experiences to be evidence of life after death. And if life after death did not include being with Tony, then she had no interest in getting there. She wanted to be where he was.

"But I'm here, Honey," the genius said, as if he had been reading her thoughts. "With you. As crazy as I probably sound to you right now, I'm still here. I'm still yours."

 _For now_ , the voice in the back of her mind mocked her. _While he doesn't know you chose not to have his kids, he'll stick around. Once he finds out, though…_

 _I didn't_ _ **choose**_ _not to have his children_ , Pepper silently argued with herself.

 _You made yourself not able to have any._

 _I made myself stop losing them!_

 _Without telling him that you had!_

"Pepper?" Tony's voice kept her from replying to herself. "Are you all right?"

The redhead gulped and blinked rapidly a few times, helping her eyes focus on Tony's concerned-looking face. At some point during the conversation she had drifted off from, she had ended up on her back again, with the genius partly on top of her. He was holding his torso above her by resting his weight on his bent right arm, and using his left hand to brush away loose strands of hair from her face.

"Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you believe that?"

"Believe what?"

"What your parents said about Barnes? Do you really believe that people shouldn't be judged for something they did that they didn't have much control over?"

Her question was selfish and she knew it. But she could not help to wonder if Tony really believed that Barnes, or anyone who made a decision while not in the right frame of mind, could be forgiven for acts committed while not completely under control of themselves. She knew she was asking more for herself than anyone else, but damn if she did not want to hear the inventor say that she had a chance to be forgiven by him, when the time came to tell him what she had done.

"I think it's a possibility," Tony shrugged. "I mean, I guess I kinda did it, too, when I thought Palladium was gonna be the end of me. Did a lot of things then that I'm not really proud of, but in my mind, they all felt completely justified. Had I not been dying, maybe… I don't know. I guess I wouldn't have done as much stupid shit as I did then."

The redhead offered an ambiguous-sounding hum to his reply. It was as much of an answer as anyone could give on the matter without knowing the full details of why the question was being asked in the first place. The truth was, this was as much as Tony was going to say about it without heavily leaning one way or the other, simply because agreeing wholeheartedly with the statement his parents had made meant giving Barnes an out for what he had done. Granted, killing people in cold blood did not compare to giving away one's entire art collection to the Boys Scouts of America, or even getting one's tubes tied, but everyone was different. The only common thread on this, if there was one, was that Barnes had not been in full control of his body and actions, Tony had thought he only had but a few months to live and the ticking clock had been driving his actions during that time, and Pepper had been under the influence of stress, anxiety and leftover pregnancy hormones.

Even if they had been in command of their bodies going through the motions and their minds making the decisions, outside factors beyond their control had heavily influenced what they had or had not done. It was a stretch – perhaps just false hope; but the redhead wanted to believe that Tony would keep that in mind when she finally came clean with him.

There would be a time and place to test her theory, but it was neither here nor now.

Wanting not to think about it anymore, Pepper opted to return her full attention to Tony by closing her eyes and tilting her head so that she could feel more of his hand. He did not disappoint and reacted by cupping the side of her face. In turn, she covered his with her right one while her left one held the back of his neck, lightly massaging him and subtly hinting at what she wanted to do now: not talking about death and horrible decisions that had already been made. Yet, she did not want to transition the conversation before showing him her appreciation with his vulnerability and openness.

"Thank you for telling me about it. About seeing and talking to your parents. I hope you know it won't leave this room."

"Didn't even cross my mind that it would, Pep," Tony replied, his lips brushing her nose. "You know I trust you."

"And if you want to talk about it more later?"

"You'll be the first one to know."

Pepper smiled at him before she lifted her head to give him a brief kiss on the lips. "Want to nap before dinner?"

Tony shrugged. "I might be a bit tired."

"You should be a _lot_ tired after what we did. I know I am."

"Oh, Sweetheart, you're wrong," he gave her a mischievous smile and lightly bucked against her for emphasis. "I haven't shown you what tired really feels like with me."

"Oh?"

She could not wait for him to prove her wrong.


	14. Chapter 13: Tokyo

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Thank you for the favorite/follows:** _luckyduck22._

 **Guest: Oh gosh, I just want to hug poor Tony and Pepper. Seriously, that's how good this story is every chapter. Not that I'm saying this is what will happen, but if they wanted to, there are other ways to have kids. Surrogacy is an option, extremis..? I can't wait to see how you wrap up the story. So good! –** Surrogacy is definitely an option. We'll just have to wait and see :D

 **Pepperonylove: Oh dear oh dear. I love this chapter! I so love their intimate moments. I can just imagine Tony not being able to get enough of her! This gives me all the feels. Aaaaaaah. But im still anxious over what Pep did. Im still hoping she did not go with it. I want a Pepperony baby so badly! I hope they will get their happy ending with a family of their own, a genius child on the way would be great! :) Im glad you had a great birthday. And im so glad you updated quickly. Is it too much to ask for another soon? Hahaha. Keep writing dear, you are such a great Pepperony writer! :) –** It is NOT too much to ask for another so soon! Here it is! Thank you!

 **Stark13 :Already a new chapter ? We're so lucky ! Thank you so much ! I'm really curious about how Pepper will explain what she did to Tony. I'm really impatient ! Read you soon –** And another one right here! I am such a horrible person, making my Faithful Readers wait so long. Please forgive me!

 **PolishGirl: OMG! I totally love this chapter. Im grateful for the quick update, it was such a nice suprise! Can't wait for next chapter and I hope Pepper will soon tell Tony about the miscariages ;) –** She will. Soon. Sorta. Kinda. coughcough You'll see :P

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Tokyo**

 _It could have been a false positive. It had happened before, so it stood to reason that it could be the case again. But that had been just a week or so after her period had been late – a prime time to lose a pregnancy that, while it had tried, it had not really taken as it should have. It happened all the time, to women everywhere. Contrary to popular belief, getting pregnant was not easy. It required more than just unprotected sex and booze. It required unprotected sex, at the right time, on the right day in a woman's cycle, with good quality sperm from the man, that resulted in a correct attachment to the uterine wall. And even then, even after all those things happened perfectly, the development of said egg had to be normal, even in those early stages. And that was when most pregnancies ended. If the body realized the implantation was faulty, if the division of cells was not perfect, if the state of mind of the woman was not ideal, then the pregnancy would not take. Achieving pregnancy was not just a biological endeavor. It was a psychological one, as well._

 _This time, however, she was over two months late. This time, she had a doctor on the line, telling her that her blood tests had confirmed what the at-home tests had already told her, days ago._

 _She was pregnant. Again. Maybe even more pregnant than she had been before._

" _ **Your HCG levels are in line with your approximate conception time. I would still wait until hitting the three-month mark to share the news with family members, though."**_

" _How about the father? Could I… could I tell him?"_

" _ **In your case, I beg that you do. Mr. Stark needs to come to my office to give him a good lecture on what he needs to do if he wants this baby to come to term."**_

" _Dr. Adler…"_

" _ **I'm serious, Ms. Potts. Your health depends on it, even if you weren't pregnant. As your PCP, your OBGYN, and your**_ _ **friend**_ _ **, I beg you: please bring him to your next follow-up."**_

" _Which you will be…?"_

" _ **In two weeks."**_

" _Two weeks?!"_

" _ **That should be enough time to tell him he knocked you up."**_

 _Pepper would have laughed aloud at the doctor's informal speech pattern, if she was not more focused on freaking out about the whole thing._

" _For a normal person, maybe. But I have events to attend for the company and he has been busy chasing… uhm… bad guys around the world."_

 _It was not a lie at all. Tony had been kept pretty busy with dismantling HYDRA, and Pepper had been doubly busy with Stark Industries because of it. Tony did not typically help much running the company, but the little he did do that was not getting done at the moment was enough to put even more pressure on the ginger. Especially, since they had started putting together The September Foundation Grant. And that was not even counting how much she had been supporting him and The Avengers with repairs and maintenance after their missions, AND Tony's Iron Legion peacekeeping program._

" _ **The more the reason why he should get his ass to my office, Ms. Potts. Your stress levels. He needs to–"**_

" _FINE!" the redhead spat, knowing that the doctor was right and that she would not let go of the issue until she won. "I'll tell him… soon… before the appointment. And I'm sure I won't have to drag him there. One of the other Avengers can do it for me."_

" _ **The Hulk might oblige."**_

" _Any_ _of them will jump at the chance to force Tony to do something that he may not want to do."_

" _ **Sounds like quite the team,"**_ _Dr. Adler jested._ _ **"Just make sure you bring him, OK? I want to see you both in two weeks. And not in a rush, either. We have a lot to talk about. So, make plans to be here a while."**_

" _OK," Pepper sighed in defeat._

" _ **See you in two weeks, Pepper."**_

" _See you in two weeks."_

xxxXXXxxx

Mayako Miyake could have been Tony's twin. A _slightly_ nicer and more empathetic version of him, but his twin nonetheless. She was intelligent. Driven. Ambitious. Snarky. Sarcastic. A superhero in her own way. She was about Pepper's age, even though she looked not a day past her mid-twenties; slim and short – quiet until she had something meaningful to say or wanted to call you out on bullshit you had just said, which had made establishing her own company very difficult. She wanted to appear nonchalant and disinterested to others and about others, but Pepper knew her to be as caring and concerned with the state of the world as Tony was. She wanted to make the world a better place. She wanted her inventions to bring a positive change to the world. She wanted to lay the foundation for future generations: one that allowed them to keep war at bay, people from starving, and the planet in one piece.

She had met Tony at a research and development conference, a very long time ago, when she had corrected his drunk ass on something related to engineering, and the inventor had been impressed. Needless to say, the genius had immediately tried to get into her pants, but he had never succeeded. Time and time again, on every occasion that he visited Tokyo since meeting her, he had tried to get her into bed. He had tried every trick in the book. Every idea that had crossed his mind, as cheesy as it had seemed, but he had always come up short. Then, one day, he had finally realized why Mayako had no interest in him – and the genius had backed down and had accepted defeat. From that moment on, however, instead of trying to get her to sleep with him, he had helped her start the company she had always wanted to have. Tony Stark felt that it was one of the best decisions he had ever made.

She was all that anyone with a remarkable brain, political influence, and in power should be. Practically _perfect_. Tony loved her. Found her to be interesting and a great working partner; even if the woman had at first begrudged him for supporting her the way he had only _after_ she had made it clear that he would never see her naked. Nevertheless, she was one of the very few women that had earned his admiration and respect without having to be anyone but themselves. One of the very few that had not given a shit about who he was or what he had, and who treated him like he was like everyone else: full of flaws and fumbling through life.

All-in-all, after a somewhat rocky start, Mayako and Tony had a good relationship; business and personal alike. Which meant that, any other day, he would have been thrilled to see her and learn about what she had been working on lately. At any other occasion, he would have been excited to share with her what he himself had been working on, before spending time in her lab tinkering with shit he had never seen before. Any other goddamned time, Tony Stark would have been bouncing off the walls at the thought of spending an afternoon with who could have been his sister in another life… But that day was not today.

Nope. Not today. Because today, whether it was on purpose or not, she was currently irritating the living shit out of Tony. Because, on top of everything else she was and did, Mayako was openly gay. And she was hitting on Pepper. A lot. Right in front of him. Or at least that was what it looked like to him.

Tony sighed loudly as he watched yet another too-touchy-for-his-taste interaction between the redhead and the brunette sitting by the desk. They had been at it the moment they had arrived at Mayako's office, practically ignoring his presence after introductions had been exchanged, leaving the billionaire to sit in a corner and pout. He had his left arm bent against the edge of the couch he was sitting on, his head resting on his upturned hand. His right arm was splayed atop the back of the couch; his fingers restlessly tapping against the cushioned back of it. His eyes were narrowed and glued onto the talking pair, an annoyed look on his face. He had never seen Mayako talk this much about something that was not science, and he was quickly growing impatient with the fact. It was as if Mayako had been holding back on behaving like a typical woman her entire life, and Pepper's presence had made all of it come out in one sweep.

This was, by no means, the first time that Mayako and Pepper had met or spoken. But it was the first time that it had been for something other than just to engage in small talk while setting up a meeting with Mayako and Tony. As far as Tony knew, the two women had never exchanged personal information or had engaged in _girl talk_ , but maybe he had been wrong all along. The evidence before him spoke of a possible long-standing friendship that he was not aware of – or maybe it was just that Pepper was _that_ good at keeping their investors interested in them.

Whatever it was, Tony was not pleased with it, no matter how much he liked and admired both women before him. He knew that his fear and discomfort was irrational, unfounded even, and pretty much downright stupid of him to feel it in the first place, but he still did. He was human, after all. And, to this day, he still sometimes felt inadequate to be Pepper's partner.

Before he could jump into the conversation, however, his chiming phone stopped him in his tracks.

" _ **Have you told her?"**_

Tony held back a groan at Happy's text message before texting back.

" _Been kinda busy surviving a snowstorm. Get off my ass?"_

It took nearly a minute for Happy to respond; the speech bubble appearing and disappearing a few times on the screen, but he did.

" _ **Is that what you plan to tell the media when they find out your marriage is a sham?"**_

" _Nope. My plan is to tell them to go fuck themselves."_

" _ **And the investors? The company? The Board? Gonna tell them to fuck off, too?"**_

Tony held back a sigh. _"I told you, Hap. I'll get to it when I get to it."_

" _ **That's your code for: NEVER!"**_

" _Oh, you know me so well. GTG. Bye."_

Tony snapped shut his phone and put it away in his pocket before he rubbed his face with his palms, pulling down on his skin as he did so. Things did seem to be looking up between him and Pepper, so perhaps Happy's insistence was well-placed and timely. Then again, they still had three more investors to visit, albeit in a rushed manner due to their time constraints. Perhaps making those last three encounters awkward and tension-filled was not the best way to end their trip. Moreover, he was quite enjoying whatever freedom Pepper had allowed herself in behaving as if they were still together. He was not going to waste that with something that could still wait.

Because it still could, right?

"So, what do you think, Tony?" Mayako's voice made him look up, eyes wide as a dear caught in the headlights.

"Uhm," Tony swallowed hard, his gaze shifting from staring at Mayako to looking at an expectant Pepper. He pursed his lips, scratched his neck, cleared his throat, and then continued his response. "Well, that's a loaded question, if I ever heard one. You're gonna have to be more specific, May. You know thinking is all I do."

Pepper snickered and shook her head, knowing exactly what Tony's response meant, but she did not any comment in the matter.

"Still full of shit, huh?" Mayako rolled her eyes before tilting her head to stare at Pepper from the corner of her eye. "Told you the fucker wasn't listening to us. We could've been making out over here and he wouldn't have noticed."

"You what?!" Tony bolted from the couch and shook his head as if trying to clear his ears to hear better.

"COULD'VE!" Mayako emphasized.

"But didn't?" Tony half-asked, half-stated.

"Really, Tony?" Pepper winced. "Are you really THAT insecure?"

"Have you MET me, Honey?"

Pepper's only response was to smile.

"Anyway," Mayako began. "As I was saying, do you wanna go get that massage, Pepper? You're only here for one day and business is done. I'm sure you don't get a lot of time for yourself taking care of this dude's company, so why not take advantage of it."

"Business is done?" Tony frowned. "When?"

"When you were over there, daydreaming," Mayako replied.

"How long was I distracted?"

"Two hours," Pepper deadpanned.

"Two–" Tony stared at his watch. "Are you kidding me?"

"That's what we said," Mayako replied.

"Why didn't you shake me, Pep?"

"What for?" the redhead shrugged. "You know Mayako wasn't going to give us any grief. And we had a lot of things to catch up on."

"Yeah, Stark. Who do you think I am? Yolandi Venter?"

"Don't you EVER say that name in my presence again," Tony said with mock indignation. "Say her name three times and the witch appears at your door."

"Or in your bed," Mayako sniggered.

"May your tongue turn to lead!" Tony said as he walked closer to the duo and hugged Pepper from the side.

"Rude," the ginger said with a small grin that showed him she was not really upset at his childish behavior and then returned her attention to Mayako. "I'll take you up on that offer, May. I could use a massage."

"I could give you one," Tony said, his grip on her tightening up to make his point.

"A _professional_ massage," Pepper added.

"Now who's being rude?" Tony scoffed. "I offer my help, no strings attached, and this is the _thanks_ I get? I'm hurt."

"You'll get over it," Pepper replied and patted his arm.

"Or under it," the inventor said near her ear; the suggestiveness of his words making the redhead blush.

"Ugh! You people are disgusting! Get a room, all right?"

"Have one. Would like to use it. But you wanna take my wife away from me."

Mayako rolled her eyes and grabbed Pepper by one arm. "You can have her back in a few hours, you big baby."

"Or I can have her right now, if you know what I mean."

"Dude!" Mayako groaned. "I don't have to know everything you do to her, OK? Keep that info to yourself."

"Rude," Tony deadpanned before reluctantly releasing Pepper. "Fine! Go do whatever you want to do. I'll be here. Waiting for you, Pep. Or, I might not. Whatever. It's cool."

Both women laughed at the billionaire as he pretended to be nonchalant about the situation but majestically failed. Then, as he dug his hands in his pockets, shrugged and kicked an invisible rock with his left foot, Pepper turned in place and held his face in her hands.

"I'll be back before you know it," her smile made him swoon. "And I'll be relaxed and rested. Ready for anything," she winked, "If you know what I mean."

"You too? Do I need to throw cold water at you?" Mayako's whining tone of voice made the couple laugh. It was all in good fun, anyway.

"Good deal, Hon," Tony replied with a curt nod to Pepper before he tilted his head and leaned forward a bit, his intent to kiss her becoming obvious. Pepper met him halfway, kissed him deeply, and then pulled away to see her smile reflected on his face… and that Mayako had given them some privacy by leaving the room. Noticing this, Tony kissed Pepper one more time, longer and deeper than the first time, before finally pulling away from her completely.

"Stay out of trouble," the redhead warned.

"Will try."

"That's all I ask," Pepper said as she picked up her purse and began walking towards the door to join Mayako.

"Love you!" Tony yelled at her retreating form.

"Love you, too, Stark!" Mayako retorted from the hall before Pepper could reply.

"And I just like you a lot," Pepper added with a wink before she turned around and closed the door behind her.

After the two women left and their laughter disappeared, Tony scratched the back of his head, thinking about what to do with all this time he now found himself having. It was only a handful of hours or so, but he had gotten used to spending every waking moment with Pepper during his trip, so his mind was currently drawing a blank as to what to do.

Nonetheless, he had not been born knowing her. He had, in fact, spent a good amount of time without her. He was not a child. He was an intelligent, independent adult, who was perfectly capable of finding something to entertain himself with while she was gone. Something that would be fun and relaxing, and that it would not get him in trouble, as well.

Yes. There had to be something out there that would fit all those requirements. And he was the best person to figure out what this idea might be, too.

Yes. He could do this.

It would be as easy as pie.

xxxXXXxxx

 _How hard could it really be to tell the man with whom you had had a steady friendship and relationship for so many years that he had gotten you pregnant? That, oops, one of the many times you two had had sex, there had been one to come with a prize?_

 _Evidently, as Pepper Potts had found out since her conversation with Dr. Adler, it was harder than it would sound._

 _The redhead could not understand why it felt as if she was getting ready to tell him that his life was over as he knew it. Maybe it was because that was how it would probably feel for him, the way he was. He had freaked out about the false positive pregnancy test that he was not even supposed to have known about. Why would she think that the real deal would be any different than that?_

 _Her desperation had led her to searching online for clever ways to tell your partner that he was going to become a father, and it had only made her sick to her stomach. The negative feelings had made their appearance not because the recommendations she had found were not useful, but because they all came with side notes and anecdotes of happy couples that had been trying so hard to conceive, that sharing the news with the world was a relief._

 _What if Tony decided fatherhood was not for him and opted to leave?_

 _What if she was unable to follow her dreams, like many women were expected to do once they became mothers?_

 _What if they could not protect their child from the many enemies they already had, and the future ones they were sure to make?_

 _What if…_

 _"What if I stopped worrying about it and just do it?" the redhead told herself with a shake of the head. She had faced the Iron Monger with no protection whatsoever, and had outrun him in high heels. She had hacked into her own company server to dig up dirt on Obadiah Stane while he had been sitting but a few feet away from her. She had used the Iron Man suit, on her first try, to save Tony from being flattened by their collapsing home. She had then later used it, along with Extremis, to kill Aldrich Killian. She, Pepper Potts, had killed someone to defend the man she loved! She could_ _ **totally**_ _tell Tony Stark that he had knocked her up!_

 _"Or maybe the baby can tell him, when he or she starts to talk."_

xxxXXXxxx

This was going as well as it could be expected. Perhaps even better than he had imagined. Maybe he was not a total trouble magnet after all.

Without much other to do while Pepper and Mayako had their _Girl's Afternoon Out_ , Tony had left the building shortly after the women had departed. He knew that he would probably stand out like a sore thumb out in the streets, seeing as he was, well… himself, but at least the people that had recognized him so far had tended to mind their own business either way. He had been walking around downtown Tokyo by himself for at least an hour, and no one had so much as given him a second glance. At first, he had been offended as fuck by people's lack of acknowledgement of his presence – an immediate reaction left from days past. Now, however, he was grateful that people were allowing him room to breathe.

It was not common for him to be able to take the time to browse stores and take in his surroundings without being flooded with requests for pictures and autographs. Every now and then, he had experienced the once-common situation in which a woman would try to make a pass at him, asking him to sign her bra or trying to gift him her panties, all with the hope of spending the night with him. Years ago, he would have immediately jumped at the opportunity to get laid. Today, though, he just smiled in feigned flattery and politely declined. It was not unknown to the world that he had been in a committed relationship for many years, but it appeared that for some people, no ring meant _not real_. Then again, he had no doubt that some of these people would still try to get him to sleep with them, even if Pepper was standing right next to him, with three of his children and expecting the fourth.

Children. Tiny human beings that depended so much on the big humans that had brought them into the world to survive everyday life. Such as the one that was tugging on his pant leg right now. It took him a second to realize that the tugging was not his imagination, and yet another second or two to look down. Once he did, however, his confusion only rose at seeing the four-year-old look up at him as if he had all the answers in the world.

"Hi," Tony said with what he hoped was a friendly face and tone of voice. "Can I, uhm… can I help you?"

The child said nothing. He simply continued staring at Tony with a tiny frown.

"Where are your parents?" Tony lifted his head and craned his head from side to side, but no one seemed to notice what has going on. "Are you alone?"

Once more, the tyke did not reply.

Tony frowned, briefly wondering if the child was mute, but he then remembered that he was not in the States.

"Friday," Tony said as he took out his phone and placed it close to the child. "Japanese translator: Can you ask him if he's lost?"

His AI did as told, which prompted the child's frown to grow deeper and his eyes to shine with unshed tears.

"Ah, shit! I mean…" Tony shook his head as he picked up the kid from the ground. "Wait, you don't speak English, anyway, right?"

The child sniffled and tilted his head to the right.

"I'll take that as a _no_. So, where are your folks? Friday?"

The AI proceeded to translate for the genius, but the child did not so much as shrug.

"Okay…" Tony sighed. "Let's find us some cops, all right?"

Tony shifted in place, child still in his hands, meaning to find the first person that looked to be a member of the law, but before he could open his mouth to call attention to anyone, a loud growl made him stop in his tracks.

Small hands landed on an even smaller belly, and Tony alternated between staring at the child's face and his stomach. It took him a moment to understand what had just happened – where the sound had come from, and his priorities immediately changed after that.

"How long have you been lost, buddy?" the inventor patted the kid's hands delicately where they lay on his stomach. "Was that rumbly from your _tummly_? Friday?"

Surprisingly, after the AI finished the translation, the child nodded in reply.

xxxXXXxxx

 _It was perfect. Just perfect. And not in a sarcastic way, either, but in a_ _ **This-will-distract-Tony-from-the-initial-shock**_ _way. Like jingling keys to a fussy baby or throwing a ball to a dog. She had no idea they even made the damn tiny things, but she guessed that it should have not surprised her that they did. She was sure that there was no patent request on file for them, though, but if the clothing item helped her tell Tony the big news, she would forgive the company that had been producing and profiting from Iron Man onesies without checking for violation of intellectual property and trademarks._

 _The armor design was old – she recognized it to be the Mark II, but it was adorable in baby size. The colors were all correct and it served its purpose: dressing up your newborn like Iron Man._

 _They had them available for pets, too. And they even had naughty, babydoll ones… probably a marketing scheme for the customer to eventually have to get the baby one._

 _"Maybe I should've gotten that one, too," Pepper tapped her lips with a pen, thinking about the Iron Man babydoll. "Soften the blow with it."_

 _Before she could change her mind, however – and knowing that it was too late to get one, Pepper put the baby onesie, along with the details of their doctor appointment next week – during which she would even get her first ultrasound – inside a gift bag and taped it closed. The bag itself did not give anything away of what the contents of it were. It was just a plain red bag with gold polka dots: another nod to Iron Man. Another way to maybe distract him from the full effect of receiving shocking news._

 _"OK," Pepper breathed hard as she cracked her knuckles. "Let's do this."_

 _"Ms. Potts?" the sudden sound of Bambi at the door made Pepper jolt and hastily throw the bag inside one of the drawers on the desk._

 _"Yes?" Pepper smiled, trying to sound and seem nonchalant as she closed and locked the drawer._

 _"I'm afraid I have some news."_

 _Pepper felt her heart skip a beat; her eyes immediately staring at her phone for missed calls._

 _There were none._

" _What news? What's going on?"_

 _Bambi sighed, cleared her throat, walked inside the office, and then carefully closed the door behind her. "It's about Mr. Stark."_

 _Pepper felt blood leave her body and her heart stop._

 _"What about him? Is he… is he…?"_

 _Bambi gave her the most apologetic face she could muster and then shrugged. "We don't know."_

xxxXXXxxx

He was pretty sure that people could tell this child was very likely not his own, based on obvious racial differences alone, but he was sure as shit not going to return him just yet if the kid was starved. Who knew how long it would take for the officers to get to his case, for the parents to be found and contacted, and for said people to get to the station to pick him up. He had no idea how the missing child system worked in Japan, so the poor, hungry child could have been further deprived of sustenance for too long.

Nope. Not his kid. That much was clear as day!

If the cops approached the table at the American cuisine – a.k.a. burger joint – they were in and asked for a paternity test, his ass would be thrown in jail before he could explain his good intentions. His face would be all over the news, and Pepper would have to bail him out. But damn it, it would all be worth it if this kid had a bite to eat while the cops handcuffed his sorry butt.

 _Speaking of which, I should find out what to do about it, huh?_

Trusting that he still had enough time to control the situation before it escalated with the authorities, Tony began searching for the closest police station, as well as researching what the process was for returning a would-be missing child. If anything, he wanted to make sure that the child was reunited with his family as soon as possible, and he could not make sure of that unless he knew what to expect. The process, once read over a few times with a translator, made sense to him. What did not make sense to him, however, was that the child was now gone.

"The fuck?" Tony sprung up from the couch as if he were on a trampoline. "Where did he go? Crap!"

The food was gone, so he had at least finished eating, but he was now nowhere in sight. Tony felt panic engulf him, feeling like an utter failure for not being able to watch over one child, while he had been two feet away from him. Was this the feeling his parents were currently experiencing, not knowing where their child was? If so, what a horrible feeling it was.

"Hey! Kid!" Tony began saying around him, trying not to bring much attention to himself as he walked around the restaurant. "Kid? Where are you? Come on, kid! Come on out!"

He searched under the tables and behind the counter. Inside the trash bins and in the bathrooms. He thought about asking strangers if they had seen him, but he had no idea how to even begin communicating that. He did not speak the language, had no idea how old the kid was, or what his name was. He did not even remember what he had been wearing! Why had he not paid more attention to that? How the hell could he have lost a child who was _already_ lost? Was that even a thing?

 _Dammit!_

Tony pushed the front door open and rushed towards the streets.

Once outside, he looked left and right, closer to the ground, hoping to see the little bugger sitting somewhere, waiting for him. Yet, nothing stood out to him. Everyone near him was an adult. And no one looked as if they had seen a random child hanging around on his own.

What if some bad person had taken him? What if someone, who was not as kind as he, had plucked him from the streets?

Tony felt his heart racing; his phone nearly slipping from his hands at how sweaty and shaking they were. He took in deep breaths to calm himself, knowing he needed to go about this rationally, only to then catch sight of what he had thought he had lost.

There, in the playground across the street, trying and failing to get on a swing, was the child.

"Oh, thank God!"

Tony rushed towards the playground, barely missing being hit by two vehicles in the process, and made it towards his destination as quickly as his legs had carried him. He almost went off on the kid as soon as he was standing in front of him – told him how worried he had been about him, but he then realized that he had no right to do so. The boy was just a kid; doing kid things, and it was not his call to raise him to be what he would have preferred him to be right now: a tiny person that became glued to whatever surface he happened to sit on.

"All right, that's enough of that. Let's get you back to your parents before I lose you again, OK?"

The idea seemed simple: the kid had been fed and now he needed to be returned. However, as soon as the child felt that he was being taken away from the swing, his wail told Tony that he had other plans.

"Really?" Tony groaned. "You want to play now?"

The child replied by holding on the seat of the swing with more force than the billionaire thought a kid could have.

"Fine!" Tony threw his arms in the air, admitting defeat. "Just a few minutes, OK? Then we _have_ to go back."

As if somehow understanding what Tony had just said to him, the child smiled. And, despite himself, Tony smiled as well.

xxxXXXxxx

 _It was like the Chitauri invasion all over again. Except this time, for some reason, it seemed worse._

 _She was not in a helicopter and there were no aliens falling from the sky, but something_ _ **was**_ _rising towards it – something that should have not. Something that was probably going to return to its rightful place on Earth. Eventually. Because gravity worked._

 _The media was having a difficult time reporting on the incident, live. The reporters that were on the ground were running for their lives, as was everyone else. There were not that many high-quality videos available for showing because of all the chaos in Sokovia, but the short videos posted by regular citizens on social media – some taken directly by civilians amid the battle, and some aerial shots taken by drones that quickly got hit by the flying robots and hit the ground – were enough to get a good idea of how quickly the situation was escalating… of how quickly The Avengers were losing the battle to their own robots._

 _Pepper's hands were shaking, her breathing ragged, and her hand clutched her phone so strongly that her knuckles were white. She had tried getting a hold of Tony and JARVIS, but the calls and texts were not getting through. All she had to go by to know Tony's status other than the spotty and unreliable live media reports was the app she had on her phone that monitored Tony's vital signs while in the suit. After the incident in New York, and after discussing Tony's failed attempt at calling Pepper during what he had thought would be his final seconds alive, Tony had created a custom app so that Pepper could know how he was fairing. She had been resistant at first, simply because she had reasoned that the app was just a way for her to know if Tony had died in battle, but right now she was grateful that she had it at her disposition. Even if the damned app was not helping her communicate with him._

 _Then again, it seemed that Tony was pretty busy; several of the videos showed him flying around, blasting robots and getting hit back. Distracting him was probably not a good thing to do at the moment. And Pepper did not believe for a second that the inability to call him or text him right not was not by the inventor's design._

 _"Still nothing?" Pepper heard Happy ask and she shook her head._

 _Bambi and Happy were both with her at the CEO's office at Avenger's Tower, all watching with the rest of the world from multiple broadcasts how a piece of Sokovia was now in the air, reaching unnerving altitudes by the second, while placing the entire world in danger should it suddenly fall. Experts on television were not shy of relaying this worst-case scenario to the terrified viewers, causing panic that Pepper could see was already making some people rush to the streets, as if leaving the Big Apple would somehow spare them from the planet experiencing a smaller-scale version of the natural event that killed the dinosaurs. Pepper was no scientist, but she knew enough to know that if the piece of rock suddenly fell back to the ground at any speed other than the pace of a snail, it was going to be the end for many, many, many people, if not of everyone and every living thing._

 _There was so much going on that the reports that did come in were conflicting; some saying that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been spotted getting citizens off the floating city, while others were reporting that rescue efforts were unsuccessful. Some said that the battle had already been lost, while others reported that it was still going on strong. She was more inclined to believe any reports that spoke of the battle still going, simply because Tony's heart was still beating, according to the app. And, as long as he had air in his lungs, she knew that Tony Stark would not give up the fight._

 _And, as long as he did not give up the fight, neither would she give up hope that he would come back to her and their unborn child, alive._

xxxXXXxxx

From all the things he had expected could get in the way of him returning this kid to his parents, getting caught in the middle of a parade had not been one that had made it to the list. Then again, unexpected shit like this always happened to him. He should have known better than to think the task at hand would not turn Olympic in nature.

To coax the kid to finally leave the playground, Tony had resorted to using a bribe: a promise of an ice cream cone, as long as the kid did as he was told. Almost instantly, the kid's behavior had changed, all just so that he could receive his prize in the end. And he had gotten his ice cream; two scoops of it, but that had not been all. As soon as Tony had paid for the treat, his eyes had landed on a couple of incoming cop cars. It was a sight for sore eyes, seeing as he had not been able to find one single cop in the entire time he had had the child with him, and he was not looking forward to walking the fifteen blocks it would take to get to the closest police station. He would have taken a cab with the boy to get him to the authorities, if he did not suspect that the driver would call the cops on him before he could say where he was taking the kid.

Nope. He had opted to instead walking up to the slowly moving cars himself, kid in his arms, until a mob of people had cut him off. Much to his annoyance, he had quickly realized that had been caught in the middle of a parade he was not even aware was taking place – the reason why the cop cars had been cruising along – holding a child that was not his, while trying to find a way out of the predicament.

That had been fun, in no way whatsoever, especially when the cameras had started flashing, taking pictures of him and the child, no doubt wondering what Iron Man was doing in a parade in Japan.

He was not sure how many blocks he had walked with the parade until he had been able to escape, but he had been glad to have rushed towards the park bench that had called his name. His feet were aching. His skin was hot. And he could not imagine the kid being any better than him. That was, of course, if he did not count the fact that the kid had passed out.

Halfway through the parade, the boy had shamelessly gotten comfortable where he was, uncaring of the chaos unfolding around him. The left side of his face had ended up resting on Tony's shoulder. His hands had clenched the fabric of his shirt. And he was sure as hell that the kid was drooling leftover ice cream on him, but he was just glad that they were both out of the damn sun and under the shade.

And this was where he found himself now, an hour after escaping the parade: sitting on a bench, with a sleep, lost child in his arms, and his feet begging for a massage.

"At least I know that you won't run away again, kid," Tony whispered to the child as he carefully took out his phone from his pocket so as not to disturb the child's slumber. "Let's find your folks, OK?"

No sooner than the inventor flipped open his phone, the sound of incoming yelling made him look up from the screen. His eyes looked left and right, trying to find the source of the commotion and, once he did, he knew what he was looking at.

A young couple, perhaps in their late twenties, was frantically running towards him. The woman had tears cascading down her cheeks. The man, while not crying, also appeared to be in profound distress. Tony could not tell what they were saying while they gestured towards him, but the fact that they picked up their speed when he instinctively stood up from the bench confirmed what he already suspected they were.

The boy's parents. They had to be.

Then again, why would they be here, so far away from the place he had first picked up the kid?

His innate paternal alarms went off, and he pressed the kid closer to his body. He would have even taken a step back from them, but the bench was behind him and in the way. What proof did he have that these people were the parents, anyway, other than assuming so by how relieved and worried they looked? Maybe they were child abductors, pretending to be the parents, and that was how they got their dirty work done.

No. He could not just hand the kid to them without some sort of explanation on their part. What kind of man would he be if he did?

Having his phone already open, Tony invoked his AI, asking her to translate for him once more. The replies coming from the couple were short and closer to rambling than to complete sentences, but the overall meaning became clear to him in a heartbeat. The words _lost_ , _search_ , _parade, television_ and _pictures_ were all indicators of what had brought the parents to find him and the kid. They had been looking for him, had seen Tony's pictures on display TVs from the parade, and had probably caught his escape from the mob while chasing after him. It all made sense. It absolutely did. Yet, he refused to let go of the kid just yet.

Sensing his hesitation, the woman opened her purse, took out her wallet, grabbed all the bills she had in them, and then offered them to him with shaking hands. The husband, realizing what his wife was doing, immediately did the same with the little money he had at hand, which only made Tony cringe.

"No," Tony shook his head. "I just… Friday? Translate."

The look of understanding quickly flooded the couple's face once they heard Friday translate what Tony was saying, which prompted them to stash away their money and take out pictures of their child instead. They showed them to Tony, along with other documentation they had with them, hoping it would be enough to identify themselves.

Once Tony was almost convinced that he was handing the child to the right people, the kid himself gave him the final stamp of approval on what he was hesitant to believe.

"Mama!"

It was the first word the child had said while around him, but it was enough for Tony to release his grip on him, as he knew that the word was an informal manner of referring to one's mother in Japanese, just as it was in many languages.

Both parents hugged their child at the same time, flooding him with kisses and words Tony did not understand, other than what he knew from the documents to be the child's name. The boy looked happy and excited; no doubt relieved to see his family once again, and Tony could not help to smile at the scene… until he realized that he had done what he had set himself to do, and that his presence was not needed anymore.

Neither the parents nor the kid were paying any mind to him anymore anyway, so he took it as his cue to leave. He opened his mouth to say something, however; anything, as simply walking away could be seen as rude, but words seemed so pointless right now. He had no connection to this family whatsoever other than stumbling onto the kid by accident and keeping him alive and safe while he got them together again. There was nothing that could be gained from adding words for the sake of adding them. It was best to remain silent and slip away.

There was nothing else to be said or done from either side, and they had already thanked him for his help as the child had been handed over. It was time to move on.

So, he did.

Nevertheless, a tiny voice behind him made him stop in his tracks and look over his shoulder at the smiling preschooler waving his hand at him.

"Buh-bye, Iron Man!"

Tony smiled and waved back.

"Buh-bye, Ken."

xxxXXXxxx

 _ **"Iron Man has been spotted under the floating city. I repeat: Iron Man is trying to slow down the fall."**_

 _Pepper Potts almost scoffed at the reporter's words, spoken as if they were brand-new information to her. She knew that Tony was down there, trying to hold a damn piece of land up in the air with nothing but his suit and his will: his heart rate was off the charts. Yet, knowing was not exactly comforting at all._

 _She could not decide where to keep her eyes, either: glued to the television or to the app itself. The television showed her live scenes of the chaos unfolding in Sokovia. The app showed her live feeds of the status of Tony Stark._

 _Neither of them showed anything good, but not staring at them was just as bad._

 _Tony's heart was beating extremely fast but hardly any oxygen was being taken in. His blood pressure was rising to dangerous levels. He had blunt-force trauma warnings all over the place. His stress levels were in the red. He was pushing himself to the extreme; fighting and losing to an enemy that required all of his being._

 _She briefly closed her eyes to say a prayer, asking God to spare his life and bring him back home, even if the entire world went to shit. She asked for a chance to tell him that he was going to be a father. She asked for a chance to prove to him that being a parent was not the worst of things. But, above all, she asked for the opportunity to see him again – to be able to tell him and show him how much he meant to her. How much she loved him with every fiber of her being._

 _With absolutely no warning of any sort to prepare her, pain radiated through her lower body; sharp and widespread and unexpected, and a small groan escaped her lips._

 _Her hands flew to her lower belly, pressing against the area as if the movement alone could stop the raw aching. She further clenched her eyes shut and breathed through the pain for a few seconds before she opened her eyes once more. The first thing she did was look to where Happy and Bambi were standing to see if they had noticed her momentary discomfort, but they were too engrossed in the newscast to take note of her issue._

 _As soon as the pain had appeared, it went away, only to then come right back. She bit on her lower lip to keep herself from yelping, not caring that she was now tasting her own blood. The pattern repeated itself three more times and the pain subsided just as many times, slightly decreasing in intensity and length, allowing her enough time to finally look up towards the screen at the exact time that a burst from the arc reactor in Tony's suit seared upward, where it was met with a massive bolt of lightning flashing downward from the other end, summoned by the mighty Thor, causing the floating city to blow up._

 _Not a second later, the app on her phone beeped, showing her an all-caps message blinking off and on that read:_ _HEARTBEAT NOT FOUND_ _._

 _Ironically, at that moment, Pepper did not think she could find hers, either._

xxxXXXxxx

He returned to the couch he had been sitting on, hours ago, and allowed his body to collapse on it. He was exhausted. He felt as if he had been fighting HYDRA all day, without the suit, but he had simply spent five hours trying to get a lost kid reunited with his parents. Granted, he had also kind of played babysitter for the little shit, as sneaky and slippery as he had been, but that should have not tired him as much as it had. Then again, if he were honest with himself, he was not tired just because of the physical efforts he had put into the task today. He was tired because the entire thing had been emotionally draining to his soul.

He had almost forgotten it. He had almost pushed it back to the deepest parts of his mind and heart, what he had been dreaming about achieving for months before Pepper had called it quits on them without a warning. The idea of starting a family, at his age and in his profession, was selfish and stupid and all kinds of wrong, but he had longed for a little bundle of joy that was his and Pepper's alone. A tiny human that would be part him and part her, and who would grow up to be what his father could have never been.

 _Legacy._

Piero Abbiati's words had made sense to him when he had first heard him, and they made even more sense right now. Watching over the kid, caring for him while they found his parents, and then finally reuniting him with them, had been a sad reminder of what he did not have. And what he would probably not have, ever in his life, if he and Pepper did not work things out. Everything was OK between them right now, sure, but he was under no delusions that the tables would not turn the moment they landed in New York. This was a nice vacation. A very extended getaway. And once reality surrounded them from all sides once more, their arrangement would come to an end; whether he wanted it or not.

" _This place is great for us, as long as it's just the two of us. But we may not always be just the two of us."_

That had been how he had broached the subject with Pepper, a day before she had broken up with him, and it had led them nowhere. She had promised him that they would talk about it, and he had expected a long and meaningful conversation once she had had the time to process it. Instead, she had ended it all. She had told him that she was moving out. That she needed time away from him. That she reproached him not truly giving up Iron Man. That she was better off alone.

To this day, Tony had a nagging voice in the back of his head that told him bringing up the topic of children had probably scared her off. And not because Pepper was not mature enough to seriously consider the consequence of such a major decision, but probably because she had been afraid to have children with _him_. What kind of commitment could she hope to expect from him, if he could not keep a simple promise of not being eternally suicidal by throwing himself in front of anyone in danger? How could he have possibly thought that Pepper would believe that he would be there for her, every step of the way, if he could not even commit to stop being Iron Man?

It had taken him a while to understand this, but he eventually had. Coming to that realization had helped him heal from the early damage the breakup had done. It had allowed him to push past the initial feelings of hate and blame he had been drowning in. It had enabled him to see the reasoning behind what Pepper had done. It had taken him too long to see it, let alone to understand it, but he did not fault her for what she had done. Anyone in her position would have done the same. Hell! He would have done the same thing if he had been on the receiving end of it all. The heart had always been such a fragile thing, since the beginning of time. Safeguarding it with extreme measures was just a natural self-defense mechanism. There was no harm in that.

She had done what any other person in her situation would have done. She had protected herself first.

And for that, Tony had loathed her for a little while. But then, he had come to terms with it all. He had seen his supposed hate for her for what it really was: pained love that had no idea how to fight back to regain what had been its lifeline for so long.

Yes. He was over their breakup, in more ways than one. And all he felt for her anymore was just love. He did not hate her anymore – not that he ever really did. He did not blame her for the pain he had gone through – it was obvious that it had all been difficult for her as well. He did not hold it against her for the time they had lost, or for the fact that she had ended the best thing he had ever had going for him.

No. There was no feeling in his heart for her other than love; even if that love was to be never requited again.

As such, when the redhead and Mayako walked inside the office once more, looking happy and relaxed, Tony Stark beamed. And when Pepper reached for his hand, he did not recoil. And when she had enquired how his day had been, and had then asked him if there was something over which she should be worried about his outing, he had smiled widely, held her in his arms, kissed her, and then had given her his honest response.

"No, Pep. Nothing to worry about at all."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey! It's me! AGAIN! XD I just wanted to again thank you all for still being here after my ass takes forever to wrap this up. We have three more investors to visit and we're done! I already have half of the next chapter done, and almost all of the one after it, too. I have the last chapter and Epilogue all written in my head, so that leaves only one chapter that is not ready. I'll see if I can squeeze one more before I go back to work on Monday :D

I also wanted to take a moment to clarify something about the adventure Tony goes into in this chapter. I know it seemed kinda rushed, but I didn't want to do a disservice to Japan by writing about their culture incorrectly. I did some research to get SOME of the details used here as close as possible to what might be the norm there, but I also didn't want to push it and offend anyone with my ignorant, uneducated writing of foreign countries (as I'm sure I've done at some point during this story. SORRY!) I hope the message was clear, though: Tony is adorkable when it comes to kids :P

Thanks for reading and reviewing! This fic has been therapeutic for me, and I hope, a joy for you to read!


	15. Chapter 14: Sidney

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Stark13: Great chapter again. Really gold writing and yes Tony is cute with children. As always, we can't wait to read next chapter. Bye –** Thank you. Here's the next one ^_^

 **Guest: Giving up on this story. The chapters are to long and there's to much filler crap in them** – I agree. It's been tough writing this story. Thanks for giving it a chance, though :)

 **A/N:** The story is coming to an end. We have two cities left to visit and a lot of flashbacks to go over that answer a lot of the questions everyone has had so far (they're actually the focus of the next few chapters). I hope to convey the clusterfuck of emotions a woman endures during and after a miscarriage so that it's easier to understand why Pepper made this decision. It is not something I want to experience again but that I had to channel my own to write this. Hope it makes sense.

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Sidney**

 _A panic attack. That was what she had told Happy and Bambi she was having when she had been unable to hold back another scream of pain. It was not lying, not entirely – she was panicking, to say the least, but panic was not the only thing that had sent her to the ER._

 _She was cramping. She was bleeding. She had possibly lost the love of her life,_ _ **and**_ _had also possibly lost the baby she knew she had been carrying of his. She was no doctor, however, so she was not sure of the last one. She had read that spotting and bleeding was common in some women doing the first weeks of being pregnant, but she had a horrible suspicion that this was not of the normal kind given the pain that had come with the bleeding._

 _The Iron Man app was no longer of any help to her. The newscast had stopped the moment the city had evaporated into pieces. As soon as the notification had appeared that Tony's heart was no longer traceable, the app had stopped working all together. She had tried rebooting the app and the phone, calling Tony and JARVIS again to no avail, but the mocking message that Iron Man had no vital signs – no life – refused to go away. It was as if the universe was giving her a heads-up of what was to come so that she could come to terms with it: you cannot will someone's life to come back to them, no matter how much one restarted one's phone._

 _The redhead breathed deeply and scanned her surroundings from the corners of her eyes, finding them to be as cold and unwanted as her current situation was. She was not even sure when and how she had ended up inside an ambulance while the entire world was in pandemonium, but she was pretty sure that she had been the one to ask for one. She had not told anyone about the baby yet, and she doubted that anyone suspected it either, seeing how long she and Tony had been a couple without having children, and given how Tony had made it clear he was not interested in having any. As morbid as it was, the timing of the mission heading south, quite literally, in Sokovia, had been a great way to disguise the real reason for her physical discomfort and ache. Everyone who had helped her so far, probably thought that she was simply a woman who had just watched her partner die in battle. And maybe she was – but she was also one that was almost certain she was in the process of losing their child, too._

" _Ms. Potts? Ms. Potts? Virginia!"_

 _Pepper lifted her head and searched for the owner of the voice. It was Dr. Adler, who had rushed to the hospital where Pepper had been taken as soon as she had been able to drive through the crazier-than-usual traffic of NYC. Pepper was sure that she had not called her, and if she had, she did not remember. Everything was jumbled in her mind. She felt lost and confused; undoubtedly the result of so much stress befalling her at the same time. The same stress that Dr. Adler had told her she needed to get under control or else._

 _She had not wanted Bambi or Happy to be here with her, because she was afraid that they would find out about the baby, so it was a good thing that the doctor was present, even if she did not recall contacting her in the first place. It was possible, since the woman was listed as her PCP, that the medical staff had called her in to oversee Pepper's care. She was the partner of genius billionaire Tony Stark. Mistreating her in any way would surely land them in a courtroom. She was sure the hospital staff wanted to avoid that._

 _Everyone wants to avoid the thing they dread._

" _Is Tony alive?" the redhead pressed her right palm against her chest, the mental fog she currently felt not being strong enough to make her forget what was happening outside these walls. "Have they said anything about him? They don't have a TV here and they took away my phone…"_

 _Dr. Alder walked towards Pepper's bed and sat next to her, her shoulders slumped._

" _I really don't know, Ms. Potts. The reports stopped when…" she gulped and then simply made a gesture with her hand that Pepper understood to imply:_ _ **You know**_ _. "They're slowly coming back, but they're not obvious as to what's happened other than showing the explosion did occur."_

 _Pepper covered her face with her shaking hands and breathed deeply, trying to find her bearings amidst the many directions her brain was taking her. She wanted to find a phone and call everyone and anyone she knew until she found out if Tony was alright. She also wanted the best doctors in here to check on her about the pain she still felt but was dulled now, probably due to whatever she was being pumped with via the IV line in her arm. She wanted to find out if the world had gone to shit and if there was something she could do to help. She wanted to close her eyes and open them again and find out that this was just some fucked up nightmare she was having, because there was no way in hell that she was destined to lose father and child, at the same time._

 _In the end, however, she knew that this was not a nightmare. She knew that no one would know about Tony's whereabouts for a while – that had been the case during the battle of New York. She knew that, in her state, no one would tell her the truth about the fight or let her do anything to help. Which left her with one choice only: focusing on finding out how to get her good health back._

 _Once her face was clear of obstructions once again, she locked eyes with her doctor and bit her lower lip._

" _What's wrong with it… with me? I… I started bleeding on the way here. Not a lot, but… the cramps."_

 _Dr. Adler's pursed her lips and sighed._

" _I called ahead and asked them to draw blood," the doctor pointed to Pepper's inner elbow, where a gauze covered the puncture wound the nurse had made. "They just gave me the results a few minutes ago and… your HCG levels… they're lower than what they were last time we spoke."_

 _Pepper swallowed hard and stared at her belly for an instant before she returned her full focus to the doctor again._

" _What does that mean?"_

" _HCG is called the pregnancy hormone. The body produces it only in case of pregnancy – it's the first indicator of it, actually. What the at-home pregnancy tests check for. It also helps us determine if a pregnancy is moving along as it should. The levels sometimes fluctuate for many reasons during a normal pregnancy, so we don't use it as the sole indicator of a healthy gestation. We typically don't worry if the numbers sometimes go down by 2 or 3 points from one day to the next, as long as they go back higher than what they were before. That's normal. Sometimes even five points is OK. Anything more that, though…"_

 _Pepper took in a deep breath, understanding what the doctor was trying to relay to her, but not wanting it to be true._

" _How… how much difference did you find on mine just now?"_

" _Twenty. Twenty points."_

" _Oh," Pepper breathed and closed her eyes, the room becoming silent for nearly a minute until she spoke once more. "So, what happens now?"_

" _We… we let nature take its course. There's nothing we can do to stop it."_

" _How long?"_

" _It varies. It could be a few hours. A week or two. Every woman's body is different. Every woman's experience with this is different."_

" _But the result is the same," Pepper could not hold back the bitterness in her voice._

" _I'm sorry."_

 _Pepper swallowed hard, breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth. She repeated the exercise several times, all in the hopes of finding her center once again. The news the doctor had just relayed to her was devastating – more than she had expected it would be, given how unsure she had been about being pregnant. The fear, the uncertainty, and the anxiety that had coated her days as she got closer and closer to telling Tony the news seemed like child's play now. Unjustified. Irrelevant. Nothing in comparison to what she felt right now._

 _She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to yell at Dr. Adler for giving her the bad news. Blame the doctor for being unable to stop what was happening to her. But she knew better than that. Better than to lash out at the one person who had warned her this could happen if she did not take extreme measures to improve the quality of her life. Better than to let this keep her from taking action on what she probably still had something to do about._

 _Finding Tony. That was all she could do now._

 _"So," Pepper cleared her throat. "I just need to let this move along? No down time? Special considerations?"_

 _The stoic tone and look on Pepper's face took the doctor by surprise for an instant, but she then remembered who she was speaking with. This was Pepper Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries – the girlfriend of the most complex, high-maintenance, intelligent inventor in the world, who also happened to save the world from time to time. She was used to carrying on during troubled times. She had experience with acting as if nothing bothered her, brought her down, or sidetracked her from the task at hand as long as there was something important to do._

 _The doctor admired that, even if this was not the best of times for the redhead to put on an act. Nevertheless, it was best that she allowed Pepper to do what she needed to do. What she felt she needed to do. It would, at the very least, be a distraction from reality. It would delay facing the difficult road she had ahead of herself, especially if she would also have to deal with the death of her loved one. The doctor did not agree with the plan. She did not want her patient to think that she had to be brave at a time when this was not the best decision. But she also understood that everyone dealt with tragedy differently. Everyone needed different things to close horrible chapters in their lives before they could move on. Her job then, at this point, was to just make sure that Pepper had what she needed to fight this obstacle and make it to the other side._

 _In this case, facts and information were the only things that Pepper Potts would pay attention to._

 _"You'll be tired," the doctor began. "Irritated. Hormonal. Extremely sensitive and prone to mood swings. You will continue bleeding and cramping. You may be extremely hungry or not hungry at all. You may not want to be around people for a while. Hate them, actually. You will judge everyone harshly for anything they say or do. You will take your anger on them. You will mourn. But, as long as you don't pass out from pain or loss of blood, you'll make it through. Drink plenty of fluids. Snack here and there. Make sure your body has energy reserves to pull from. It's going to need it if you want it to keep you on your feet while you do what you have to do."_

 _Pepper nodded along as the doctor explained additional items to look for while her body finished discarding the 'products of conception' and she then cleared her throat when everything had been said and done._

 _"OK. So, can you bail me out of here?"_

 _The doctor answered with a single nod._

xxxXXXxxx

The office was pristine. In fact, the entire building they were walking inside of looked more like what they would expect the CDC would resemble rather than the headquarters of a law firm business. People around them were walking with what appeared to be bags around their feet, thin, see-through gloves wrapped around their hands, and hairnets. Rather than business people, every employee – including the security guards – looked as if they had just come out of a high-risk surgery than from home.

"I'm guessing Mr. Brown still hates being Australian?" Tony said between clenched teeth to keep his voice from carrying over as they approached the security guards by the gate, wondering if they too would have to be dressed up as would-be doctors.

"Greg doesn't hate to be Australian," Pepper said. "He just… well… he-he…"

"He-e-e-e-e?" Tony asked, a smug smile on his face, knowing that the description he had just used for their Australian investor was accurate, when it came down to it.

"Fine," Pepper snapped. "He would rather live somewhere else! Like, inside a sterilized and pressurized container on the Moon, probably."

Tony raised his eyebrows in agreement and nodded, not looking forward to what their day would probably be like. It was not that they did not liked Greg; he was very professional, dedicated to his work, and an overall nice guy. However, he was also very peculiar about his surroundings in a way that almost made him seem paranoid about everything that stirred or could cause even slightest amount of pain or harm. Why the man had not moved out of the one place in the world that offered the most opportunities for encountering danger, was beyond him. It just did not seem like Australia was the place for someone who hated spiders, snakes, bats, kangaroos, koalas, sharks, whales, dolphins, crocodiles, all birds and insects, amphibians, poisonous plants, the ocean, heat and sand, and really anything and everything that was not one-hundred percent clean, decontaminated and restrained. Or human. And even that last one was up in the air.

"Well, if we're playing doctor and nurse while we're here, Nurse Stark, I believe you're due for a physical and I am happy to provide one free-of-charge."

"Who said _you_ were the doctor?"

"You can be the doctor. I'll be the patient. And I need a sponge bath."

"That's what a nurse would do."

"Fine, then! Be the nurse. I was trying to be progressive."

"Ugh!"

"Do you need a pap smear or a mammogram?"

"Keep it up and I'll give you a prostate exam."

"You promise? Before or after the sponge bath?"

The clearing of the security guard's throat made them realize they were bantering right in front of an audience, and said audience did not look amused. Not being the first time that this had ever happened to them, however, both the genius and the ginger simply shrugged and smiled at the man who was probably not having a good day already, judging by the sour look on his face.

"Good morning, lassie!" Tony said with a smile.

"That's for a girl," Pepper interjected.

"Uhm… lad?"

"Yeah. But that's Irish, not Australian."

"Oh, yeah! Uhm… Mate! How ya doin', mate?"

"Do you have an appointment?" the security guarded asked, his voice confirming how thrilled he was to be at work to listen to them dirty talk.

Tony cleared his throat. "Kinda, yeah. I'm Tony Stark. This is my wife, Pepper Potts. We're here to see Mr. Greg Brown."

The man pulled out an electronic tablet from the desk behind him, scrolled down the screen a few times, and then sighed.

"Please place any loose or metal items in here and then walk through the metal detector."

"Sure thing."

As instructed, both he and Pepper deposited all their possessions inside a tiny plastic basket and then joined the second security guard on the other side of the metal frame. After a quick pat down and collecting their personal effects, the couple found themselves being escorted to a small room by a woman who also looked like she did not like working there.

"Mr. Brown is expecting you," the woman began. "But first, we need you to put on these."

Pepper grabbed the bag that the woman was handing them and then looked inside of it, confirming her suspicions of what the items inside were. There were two of each, one for her and for her Tony, no doubt: hairnets, plastic gloves, hand sanitizer, and bags to put around their feet.

"The plastic items are latex-free, environmental-friendly and recyclable," the woman informed them. "The sanitizer is alcohol-free, natural and hypoallergenic. Please come out into the hall when you're ready. I'll be taking you to Mr. Brown as soon as you're ready."

Without bothering to wait for a response, the brunette exited the room and closed the door behind her, leaving Tony and Pepper to wonder what they had gotten themselves into.

It could not be any worse than what they had already been through, right?

 _Right?_

xxxXXXxxx

"Tony! Pepper! Welcome! Sit, sit!"

It was difficult, but Tony and Pepper were able to keep a straight face at seeing Greg Brown wearing a hazmat suit. It was surprising that he was not slipping from the leather chair he was sitting in, but then again, it was probably an art the man had mastered over the years.

The office was even more clean-looking than the rest of the building appeared to be. The guest chairs were covered in transparent plastic – latex-free, no doubt. The wooden floors were so shiny that they could see their reflections on them clearer than they could see in a regular mirror. The windows had a ridiculous amount of sealant on the joins between the glass and the frames, so as to ensure that nothing was able to crawl inside. It would have not shocked either of them if there were motion detectors near the floor to alert of any intruder of the animal kind, or if they were to find a sanitation station hidden inside the ceiling or walls.

Anyone that did not know Greg would have thought him to be a germaphobe. Maybe even someone who had OCD. However, the truth was that he was neither of those things. What Greg Brown really suffered from was an extreme form of PTSD that had been the result of a camping trip gone wrong with his family when he had been just a kid.

Greg's father was the stereotypical Australian. One who loved the outback and who had perhaps been raised by wild animals, if that were such a thing. The elder man had been bitten by all kinds of venomous animals and his skin rubbed by many different types of poisonous plants, but he had proudly survived every instance of it. Greg's old man was someone who loved spending a night in the most dangerous parts of Australia, armed with nothing more than the thrill of facing and overcoming danger, a pocket knife, a bag of beef jerky, and a lighter.

One fateful day, during what would become Greg's last family vacation in the wild, a much younger investor had become lost for three days. He had gone off camp to relieve himself, and had not been able to find his way back in the dark. Long story short, by the time he had been found, he had been chased by a kangaroo, scratched by a koala, almost bitten by a snake, had wiped his ass with a noxious weed, had had to eat raw lizard and other small animals he had been able to catch and, if that had not been enough, a spider had snuck into his clothes, and had bit him on the way to the hospital.

Ever since that day, Greg's obsession with preventing a similar fate had driven him to become more and more wary of the place he grew up in, to the point that he rarely left his home. During the rare times he came to the office – mostly when he absolutely had to meet with his business partners in person – he went to extreme measures to avoid coming in contact with anything that could hurt him; a feat that was nearly impossible while living in the land Down Under.

Nevertheless, the man made it work. Somewhat. Although, neither Tony nor Pepper could imagine calling what Greg had to do _making it work_. They could not even call it _living._ But it was also not their place to tell the man how to live his life, anyway; no matter how briefly inconvenienced they were by it, sometimes. They only had to live with it for a few hours. He had his entire life ahead of him.

"Hey, Greg," Tony said as he held Pepper by one arm to help her balance herself on high heels that were wrapped in plastic while walking on a freshly-waxed floor.

"So nice to see you," Pepper added with a smile and a curt nod that preceded a barely contained sigh of relief when her bottom finally rested against the chair. Tony did not have such a difficult time making himself comfortable, but he did almost sit on his testicles while trying to gracefully stick the landing in the chair.

Maybe he would need that prostate exam after all.

"Congratulations on your wedding," Greg began, his voiced muffled by the suit. "It was about time you two got hitched. I was starting to think that Tony was probably really just secretly batting for my team with how long it was taking him to settle. Especially with someone like you, Pepper."

Tony shifted in his seat, the plastic making it hard to sit still. "Yeah, no. But thanks for thinking of me."

"To be honest, I was starting to think the same," Pepper went along with Greg's joke, earning her a mock look of indignation from Tony.

"Really, Pep?"

A chuckle was all the response he got from her.

"Now, you don't have to sound so offended by it, Tony," Greg rolled his eyes. Or at least that was what it had looked like.

"I'm not. I'm flattered, really. Though, I thought you weren't available. Didn't you already have someone?"

Despite the hazmat suit covering most of his face, the look of happiness on Greg's face was clear as day.

"I do. And, I don't know if you've heard, but I'm following your example."

"How?" Tony furrowed his brow, trying to decipher Greg's words, but Pepper beat him to the punch.

"You're getting married?" Pepper asked. "Oh, my God! You're getting married!"

"Yes!" Greg replied. "I asked Mike last month and he said _yes_."

"Congratulations!" Pepper and Tony said in unison, the chairs squeaking loudly with the sudden quick friction of their clothes against the plastic.

"When's the big day?" Tony asked as he tried to rest his elbow on the armrest of the chair, but it ended up slipping off it.

"Next month," Greg replied, paused, and then his eyes told the couple that whatever was going to come out of his mouth next, was probably going to be something that they would not like. "And it must be fate that you two are here right now."

"Oh, yeah?" Tony's voice wavered a little bit, his left eye already twitching in anticipation. "And why is that?"

"Well… and this involves _both_ of you, OK? I… I want to ask you for a huge favor. And I will totally repay you for it, by tripling the investment amount for the renewal."

Pepper cleared her throat and forced a polite smile on her face, the familiar phrasing making her insides churn.

"You know, Greg, I'm sure that we can come to an agreement. But… last time that a similar opportunity was presented to us," her eyes spared Tony a glance, "Tony ended up in a hospital in Moscow."

"Oh," Greg's shoulders slumped. "I see… I mean: I understand. But… but this is not really anything like it."

"Then what is it like?" Tony asked.

"Well. What did you guys do in Moscow with Anton?"

Tony jumped in. "We camped on a mountain in the middle of a snowstorm."

"Huh…" Greg cleared his throat. "Well, uhm, there IS camping involved."

"OK."

"But no snowstorm."

"OK."

"And no mountain."

"All right."

"But, I _do_ want to stay at the same location I camped last. The one I went to when I was a kid. You… you guys know the story. I want to spend the night there."

Tony and Pepper exchanged knowing looks, silently accepting that the decision had pretty much already been made for them the moment they had walked through those doors. The rest of the details about the proposal suddenly became irrelevant, yet they would still ask about them. They would still allow Greg to make his case in any way that he had planned to do so, even though they had already agreed to help him – in their minds and with a simple glance. They knew the man well enough to know that asking whatever he was about to ask of them was not easy for him. They knew that what he was asking help with was much more than just a night in the wild. He was asking for a chance at recovery. A chance to undo even if just a little bit of the trauma he had carried with him since the day he had been lost in the Australian outback.

And he was trusting them to help him get there. They could not simply just turn their backs on that.

"OK," Pepper exhaled, her hands turning into fists on her knees. "So, you want to stay there for a night. And you want what from us? Our company?"

"Yes. I… Look, you know why I am the way I am, right? And… this has worked well for me," Greg said as he pointed to his surroundings. "And even though Mike has been so understanding of my needs all these years, I want to get over it, you know? I don't want to be afraid anymore. I… I-I'm getting married and I want to build a real life with Mike and I know I can't do that if every time I see a spider I pass out."

Any other time, Tony would have laughed at the image of a grown man fainting at the sight of a spider. However, said man lived in Australia, and the spiders here were the size of his face. He too would lose his shit if a fucking spider crawled up the sewage system and decide to nest in his toilet bowl. He had seen the pictures of said scenario online. He had nothing but respect for anyone who continued living in a place where everything wanted to kill you, even in the comfort of your own home.

"So," Tony began, "You want to do this as a first step? Camp where everything started?"

"Yes. And, well, I want this to be a surprise for Mike. I haven't told him where we're spending our honeymoon. We're going camping in some safer woods in Europe, but I don't think I can go through with it if I don't try to at least stay one night at that place here. I figured, since you're here, and you're Iron Man…"

"What better protection from dingoes than that?" Tony smiled.

"He IS a genius," Greg said to Pepper with a wink. "Congrats."

xxxXXXxxx

As it turned out, the wild was not as treacherous and overwhelming as he remembered it to be. Maybe it was because he was an adult now. Maybe it was because he had Iron Man as his bodyguard. Maybe it was because he had spent a lot of years learning about the details of what had been the worst day of his life as a child, and he now had the advantage of there not being an unknown. Perhaps that had been his true undoing: not knowing if he would ever be found; not knowing if anyone was even looking for him; not knowing if he would make it through another night without being bit, stung, chased, or eaten alive.

He had been a kid, after all. There had been much he had not known yet.

Greg used a metal stick to stoke the fire that was keeping them warm. It had been a rather calm day and night so far. He was not sure if it was just pure luck, the fact that he had good company, or if he had just been making things worse than they really were, all these years. The mind was a compelling tool, he knew; one that could render you vulnerable at the worst of times – or make you practically invincible at others, despite the odds. If the mind set itself to make you believe something, no matter how ridiculous it was, there was no way a million people sharing a different opinion and providing evidence for it would make you change your own.

Perhaps, he had held the power to heal from this trauma, all this time, and he had just not known it until now. Perhaps, it had been his own doing that he was as damaged as he was. Nevertheless, this seemed to be a step in the right direction, as small as the action itself was. Perhaps, he would be able to slightly improve himself before his honeymoon and offer Mike some of the happiness he had received from his fiancé.

"Are you going to sleep at all?" Tony's voice was barely audible, purposefully keeping his volume low to not wake Pepper up. She had been the first to call it quits, an hour ago, practically falling asleep in his arms as he had picked up her drowsy form from the ground and had taken her inside their tent.

"Not tired yet. Thinking."

Tony hummed and briefly scanned his surroundings, instinctively looking for threats before speaking again.

"Is this helping at all? Being here?"

"Yeah," Greg nodded. "I thought it would be worse. I thought I was gonna have a heart attack when we got here but… I'm fine. I feel fine."

"Well, why wouldn't you be?" Tony smirked and patted the Iron Man's suit on the shoulder, having activated sentry mode on it a while ago.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Greg snorted.

It was odd, to say the least, seeing the suit and Tony Stark sitting right next to each other, as if the armor was their fourth camping companion. It gave the suit an appearance of having its own life, as dumb as it sounded, but that was exactly what the scene spoke of. Greg had not expected Tony to be inside the suit the whole time, but he had definitely not expected to see the suit behave as if it had its own agenda and job. Then again, this was Tony Stark he was talking about. Of course the technology he built would be almost lifelike!

Feeling satisfied that he had done enough so that the fire would burn for a little bit longer, Greg dropped the metal stick and sighed. The silence of the night was comforting, broken only by the random sounds of nature doing its thing and the crackle of the fire. He would not admit it aloud just yet, so that he would not jinx it, but he had missed being out here. He had never really hated it until his less-than-ideal experience. In fact, before that he had looked forward to spending time with his family out in the wild like this.

But then, he had let that one time ruin it for him. He had allowed ONE bad thing define how he lived the rest of his life. His father had tried to get him to go camping again a few months after he had recovered, but Greg had done everything he had been able to do to keep himself at home. He had gone as far as committing a crime in his teenage years that he knew would land him in juvenile jail for a little while, if just to avoid being in these lands again. That stint had cost him the trust of his family, for many years. Back then, though, it had seemed like a small price to pay that kept him in the city at all hours of the day.

The whole thing had been stupid. A waste of his parents' money, time and of his life. He had been lucky that he had been so young when had broken the law that the courts had agreed to give him community service and expunge the charge and penance from his records, or he would have had a hard time getting into college, finding a job and building his law firm. What the fuck had he been thinking? What the hell had crossed his mind? Who the hell would have hired him as a lawyer if he himself had willingly broken the law once? And all for what? So that he was not forced to go camping with his family? What a nut job!

The thought made a chuckle escape his lips, which forced a curious look out of the billionaire sitting before him. Greg debated on whether or not to share his thoughts – and he almost chose not to – but he figured that, if he was doing this to heal, he might as well go all out.

"I had a really nice neighbor when growing up. She was an old lady. A widower. She used to bake me cookies all the time. Then, one day, after what happened here, I broke into her house and thrashed it. I broke a lot of her things. Didn't even pay attention to what they were. I just knew it would get me in trouble. Big trouble. I'd seen it before with other kids in school. I knew the police would take me away. And I didn't care. I just didn't want to be brought here anymore."

Greg paused, stared into the night as if reliving the moment, and then continued.

"You know who my first visitor was while in jail? My neighbor. She brought me cookies, but I couldn't keep them, so the officers ate them. She told me that she wasn't mad at me. That she knew I was a good boy and that I'd just made a mistake. She told me that she would have more cookies for me when I got out. And I… I got up and screamed at her to leave me alone. Called her an old bat. Told her to mind her own business and then left."

Tony hung his head, shamelessly understanding why Greg had said those horrible things to the one person that had shown him mercy and forgiveness. He knew it because he had done that more times he could count: to his parents, to Rhodey, to Happy. He had even done it to Pepper, too, the day they had broken up. Granted, he had apologized almost immediately afterwards, but he knew that the damage had already been done.

"When I finally got released and went back home, my parents kept me in house arrest. I was grounded for months. I couldn't go out other than to go school. I spent my workweeks doing homework and my weekends doing chores. None of my friends were allowed to talk to me, and some stopped hanging out with me. Apparently, their parents didn't want them to hang out with _the criminal_. It didn't matter that I was just twelve. Some people who knew me then still don't like to associate with me now. Shit! I even had one bitter old man tell me once that the crime had made me gay!"

Tony scoffed and rolled his eyes. Some things just never changed. Ignorance and hate just seemed to get worse with time.

"Did you ever get to thank that old lady? The one with the cookies?"

At this, the sour look on Greg's face told Tony that the story did not have a happy ending. Stories of people making stupid mistakes typically never did.

"One weekend, I was cutting the grass out front. I saw a moving truck parked in front of my neighbor's house, but I didn't think much of it. I thought she was probably just moving away from the asshole that had told her off. I was wrong. She… her daughter – one of her daughters, saw me while I was there and walked up to me. She was mad. So mad at me. She blamed me for it. She said it was my fault that her mother was gone. That I didn't deserve the cookies she had made me all these years, and that she couldn't believe how ungrateful I was. She got so loud that my mom came outside to help me. She tried calming her down, but she couldn't. The woman just yelled some more and then went back to the moving truck to finish up. I never saw her again."

"So, the lady died?"

"Yup. She did. The same day she had gone to see me in jail with the cookies."

Tony's eyes opened wide and his jaw slacked. "Oh."

Greg sighed. "Turns out, one of the things I had broken in her house was an urn with her husband's ashes. They ended up all over the place. Some stuck in fabric and some just too scattered to gather up. She… she never told me. No one told me. At least not until her daughter had almost beat the shit out of me that day."

"Well, that's… that sucks."

It was an overly simplified observation and reaction to the facts, but Tony did not know what else to say. Even though he had foreseen the story having some sort of bitter ending, he had not imagined this particular one. He had expected the lady to have never made cookies for Greg again, or perhaps suing him in court for his actions and then moving out. But this… this was so much worse than he had ever thought.

Whomever that lady had been, she had a bigger heart than he did. If Pepper had died on him and he had kept her ashes at home, and then some random asshole kid he had helped – Peter Parker or Harley Keener, perhaps – had broken in and had destroyed what was left of his redhead just to get out of a camping trip with his family…

That would have been it for him.

"That was very shitty of you," Tony finally said, knowing exactly what he had to tell this man. Knowing that he would have wanted someone to tell him the truth back when he had royally fucked up. He knew that it would have saved him some trouble and grief and, hopefully, it would do the same for Greg right now.

"Even if you didn't mean it," Tony continued. "You're gonna have to live with it. It's not going away, no matter what you do. And it's going to eat at you forever. You can move out of your building and forever live in this camp site, but no amount of Inland Taipans biting your ass is going to make up for it. You were selfish and you destroyed the only thing that woman had left to live for. That's your mistake. You're gonna have to own it and move on."

Greg's immediate reaction was to drown in fury at Tony's words. Perhaps even hit him upside the head with the metal stick he had been using the keep the fire alive. How dared this man tell him this as if he did not already know it? As if he had not figured out, in all these years, that this was it? What the hell did Tony think Greg had been doing all these years? Did he not see that he had been depriving his life from normalcy because of a mistake he had made when he had been young? Yes, the animals chasing him had started his fear of the world around him, but it had been realizing what he had done to the old lady that had finished putting the nail in the coffin of his life. Who was Tony Stark to judge him for this? Who did this man think he was?

But then, once the cloud of instinctive anger dissipated, he saw the look of understanding on Tony's face, and Greg realized that Tony had not said those things out of spite or a sense of feeling holier-than-thou. He had said them because he needed to hear them. Because Tony had done similar things. Because it took a selfish asshole to know a selfish asshole. He did not know what or why or when, but it was clear in the way that Tony was carrying himself right now that he spoke from experience. He too had done something stupid, and someone else had paid dearly for his fuck up.

And Greg suddenly had an idea of who that had been.

The man looked behind, over his right shoulder, towards the tent the unsuspecting redhead slept in, and silently stared for a few seconds. Then, once he returned his attention to Tony, the genius gave him a simple nod to confirm the man's unspoken question. It made sense, in some way, that it was easier to always hurt the ones you loved first because they were already there for you. That did not mean, however, that they deserved it more than anyone else did. And it certainly did not mean that their forgiveness and understanding absolved you from your crimes.

"Does it ever get easier? Living with what you did?" Greg asked.

"No," Tony immediately said, no need for hesitation on his part.

"Got a long life of regret ahead of me, then?"

Tony gave Greg a bittersweet smile before replying; for a moment remembering the conversation with his parents – or whatever that vision had been – while he had been conked out in Moscow.

"And afterlife, too."

Greg nodded curtly, unnecessarily stoked the fire again, and then chuckled bitterly.

"I guess I should've had this talk with Pepper instead, huh? You're just harsh!"

Tony shook his head. "What makes you think she's not worse than me? If you had told her all this, you'd be begging for forgiveness for things you haven't even done."

Greg threw his head back in laughter. "Sure, Tony. Whatever you say."

"I'm serious. She's tougher than she looks. I swear, if she had heard your story, right now you'd be apologizing to that rock you tripped on earlier today!"

"How about if you just apologize for waking me up! It's 3:00 in the morning, for God's sake!" Pepper said from inside the tent, making both men freeze where they sat.

"Sorry!" Greg said immediately, his body hunched as if expecting a shoe to be throat at his back, and Tony gave him an _I-told-you-so_ look.

"I forgive you," Pepper said, her voice sounding sleepy again. "And go apologize to that rock!"

This time, even the redhead reluctantly laughed.

They did not need to know that she had heard every word they had said.

xxxXXXxxx

" _ **Would you like to schedule an appointment for this?"**_

 _Did she?_

 _The redhead exhaled and inhaled deeply yet as quietly as possible. She did not want to give the doctor any indication that she was not certain about her decision – even if she was not completely convinced about it herself yet. She had merely called the doctor to follow up on the results of the exams she had taken after finding out she had lost the baby. Now, she was talking about undergoing self-sterilization in the foreseeable future… without discussing it with Tony first._

 _What was the right answer to the question? What was the right thing to do or say? Should she just tell her to book her up for tomorrow or for next week? Or perhaps, to clear up her afternoon so she could see her right now? And what about Tony's role in all of this? Or lack thereof? He had not even brought up the topic of marriage for them. And, as disappointing as it was, bonding with Harley was looking more and more to not be the sign that she had thought it had been. The more she analyzed it, the more she convinced herself that it had_ _ **not**_ _been an indication of him wanting to be a father. That it had been, instead, a way to somehow make up for his own father's mistakes._

 _Nothing had ever been easy for Pepper Potts. And it appeared as if simple biology liked to fuck with her, too._

" _I know your number," Pepper said after an extensive pause instead of asking the million questions that were going through her mind, unsure that she was ready to face the cruel answers to them all._

" _ **That you do,"**_ _the doctor replied in a similarly knowing tone, not all disguising the fact that she was aware of the redhead's hesitation._

" _Thank you for your time, Dr. Adler."_

" _ **No problem."**_

 _After hanging up, Pepper stared at the set of keys she had been avoiding for weeks, her gaze reflecting the conflict she felt inside. The office was empty save for herself, and quiet as it could be given how late it was. She had been working harder and longer than usual, with the pretense that there were just too many projects becoming due soon. It was not a complete lie, as she had had a lot to do since the battle against Ultron had ended, but she knew that she could have delegated a lot of her responsibilities to other people to do as good as she would have done them herself. She had just chosen not to do that._

 _If she was busy with work, she was not thinking about her miscarriage and how difficult it had been to go through with it while trying to find out if Tony was still alive. If she was busy with work, she had no time to call Dr. Adler about the results of the many medical tests she had undergone after the miscarriage was over, until just now. If she was too engrossed with her responsibilities as CEO of Stark Industries, she did not have the chance to unlock the bottom drawer of her desk and take out the gift bag that she had shoved in there in a rush, weeks ago._

 _She also had no reason to have the gift bag in there anymore, or keep it there for later, just in case, based on what Dr. Adler had just relayed to her over the phone about her likelihood of becoming pregnant or even carrying a pregnancy to term. But she also had not been able to force herself to look at the bag either. The band-aid was not ready to be ripped off._

 _Denial was a powerful thing. Strong enough to push people to do anything and everything in their hands to keep them from doing what they had to do._

 _It was seven at night, but the sun was still up behind her, even if just barely, providing her with enough illumination to keep the lights dimmed. This made it feel as if she was in a dream rather than living life in the real world. And dreams could be pushed to be what one wanted them to be. Sometimes. If they_ _ **were**_ _dreams._

 _This was not a dream, however. This was very much real._

 _Seconds turned into minutes. Minutes into hours. And after two of them, Pepper Potts decided that enough was enough._

 _With shaky limbs she held the keys in her hand, the trembling only getting worse as she pushed the key inside the lock and turned it to free the bag from its long confinement. She slowly pulled out the drawer, the bag standing out like a sore thumb, but she did not reach for it. She simply focused on it, eyed every little detail of it, and wondered if this was enough for one day. Maybe, she did not have to take it out today. Maybe, this first step was enough: unlocking the drawer, opening it, and then just staring at the bag until her eyes fell out of their sockets._

 _Pepper bitterly laughed at her momentary naivety. There was no way she could leave the bag there. Someone could find it. Tony could find it. And then she would have to explain why it was there to start. One thing would lead to another. One explanation would lead to more questions and confessions. And sooner rather than later, Tony Stark would finally know that he had caused his girlfriend to lose would-be children of his, twice. He would know that he had caused, albeit inadvertently, for her body to demand extreme measures to ever conceive again, let alone give birth._

 _No. She had to do this; dispose of the bag. And she had to do it now._

 _Not wanting to allow herself to hesitate anymore, Pepper pulled the bag out of the drawer and slammed shut the drawer. She threw the keys on the desk, stood up, and all but power-walked towards the corner trashcan. Cleaning services would be here soon to do their job, and she knew that once they did, the last evidence of her lost pregnancy would be gone from prying eyes. All she had to do was tear apart the note that had the reminder of her would-have-been first prenatal appointment with Dr. Adler, and then shove the bag deep inside the tall trash container. She trusted the janitorial staff to not search through the trash to look for hidden treasures. They had no reason to. Their pay was good enough to not seek additional income by sharing SI's dirty secrets under the table. The one individual that was allowed into their main office to tidy up the place had been with SI since Howard was around. If she had wanted to tarnish the reputation of the Stark family or of the company itself, she would have done so a long time ago. Being this close to retirement with the good pension SI offered, it would be stupid to throw that away after so many years of hard work to earn it._

 _Pepper held the bag with one hand while she took out the note with the other. She then tore the paper apart, dumped it inside the container, and then shoved the bag right after it. Then, just to make sure that the bag did not stand out, she walked around the office, picking up whatever items she could find that could be thrown away, and she used them to drown the infernal item with them. The actions she was taking were not exhausting at all, but her heart was racing nonetheless. It was very likely more the result of the adrenaline that had been triggered with the meaning of what she was doing that was causing her to shake and breathe hard than anything else. Ripping an old band-aid on a deep wound could do that to you._

 _Once the lid was closed and the task was done, Pepper could not make herself move from where she was. Part of her wanted to punch herself in the face and dig into the trash to recover the item. Another part also wanted to punch herself in the face, but for thinking about taking the bag out. Then, another part of her, wanted to take the bag out, punch herself in the face for throwing it away, and then call up Tony and tell him to come to the office ASAP to talk. No part was strong enough to make her do anything, though. No part of her was able to make her move until a knock on the door from cleaning services made her jump._

 _The fake smile immediately appeared on her face. She dried the tears that had been collecting in her eyes. She straightened out herself and her clothes and cleared her throat._

 _And then, as if she had not just given up on a crucial part of her life, Pepper Potts happily greeted Ms. Kowalski and invited her to come inside to take away the one thing she would never have._


	16. Chapter 15: Brasilia

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Thank you for the favorite/follow:** _sukiefonye, Foosball45, Lady Elizabeth-Jayne, Thanks2x, and Maragwondaleya._

 **Guest: This chapter flashback made me sad for Pepper. I understand her mindset at the time, I just so wish she had said something to Tony. I think that he would have given it all up for Pepper and their child. The Avengers, all of it. Nice work btw! IMO there is no such thing as a too long chapter!** – You know, I think he would have too :) I love long chapters ^_^

 **Guest: I would like to at least read one chapter where Pepper is the one putting forth the effort to try and get Tony back. I mean she's the one who broke his heart for reasons (although tragic) that she's kept to herself, which in my opinion is kind of selfish.** – Today is your lucky day, then (and a also the day whenever I post Chapter 17 :D) However, I must say, having been in Pepper's position, that if taking care of my needs and protecting myself from others while I overcome a traumatic event is selfish, then I am the most selfish person ever. The word selfish is always thrown out there in a negative connotation when other people do things that affect us in a way we don't like (or that interfere with the way we want things to go, because we selfishly want our needs met before others'.) However, when we ourselves do the acts of "selfishness," it's all justified and not at all selfish because other people 'don't know what we're going through.' Funny how that works, huh?

 **PolishGirl: Great chapter! Can't wait for next update ;)** – Thank you! This one is mostly flashbacks, but it needed to be out there before we wrap this up.

 **Stark13: Almost the end ? A little sad... Your writing is really good and in all your chapters we have a lot to read. Thanks again for all your work. Very impatient tout read the end of this incredible story !** – Thank you! This is a hard chapter to read. Have tissues nearby.

 **Olivia: Wow u got a new chapter out fast! Love this story... honestly has been the highlight of some of my days reading it! Sad it's coming to an end but u did and AMAZING job can't wait to read your future works! Thank you for seeing it through I can't imagine what you are going through personally. Praying for you and your health xoxoxo** – Thank you very much :D I'm happy you like it, even though the quality of this story is not one I'm proud off. Thank you for your prayers, too. The support is always welcome and appreciated.

 **Guest: Another great chapter! Keep 'em coming. Looking forward for more.** – Here be a new one! Only two more and the Epilogue left!

* * *

 **Chapter 15: Brasilia**

 _She had foolishly thought that she had found the solution to her major predicament, but the events of yesterday morning, what Tony had said to her while at the office, had taken the rug out from under her. She was now in a worse situation than before. She had turned a tiny hole and made it into a goddamned crater. She had tried to put a band aid on a cannonball wound. And now she found herself too late to fix the injury she herself had caused._

 _ **Pepper stopped typing the e-mail she was about to send Dr. Adler and stared at Tony with wide eyes. "Did you… did just say you want to close down the building? You want to sell Avengers Tower?"**_

 _ **Tony was staring out the large glass wall, his eyes showing he was both thinking aloud and asking her for her opinion in the matter. He did that a lot when he was incredibly conflicted about something.**_

" _ **Yeah. I've considered it. Very thoroughly. It just doesn't make sense to have this building, you know?"**_

" _ **One moment," the redhead said with a raised index finger that Tony could not see because he was still giving his back to her. She took advantage of the silence and his distraction with the view of NYC to finish emailing the doctor that she was going to miss yet another follow-up appointment with her. The doctor was not going to like it, but there was nothing that Pepper could do right now. By the time she sent the email and closed the browser window to prevent Tony from seeing the constant communication with the doctor that had performed her sterilization surgery, Tony was sitting across from her by the executive desk in the office.**_

" _ **So, I want to know what you think?"**_

" _ **You mean you want to tell me what you already want to do."**_

" _ **Hey!" Tony looked taken aback by her snarky retort. "I want your opinion and I value it, Pep."**_

 _ **As quick as her claws had come out, they had gone back in.**_

" _ **I know you do. But knowing you… you've already made the decision. Probably already sold the damn place. You just want to see what I think so that you can determine how much sucking up you'll have to do."**_

" _ **Oh, shit!" Tony smiled and shook his head from side to side. "You're my fucking soulmate, you know that? God! Knowing how much you know me turns me on, Pepper. Do you still have that 2 o'clock?"**_

 _ **Pepper scoffed and rolled her eyes.**_

" _ **Stop stalling, Stark. What do you want to do?"**_

" _ **Well, thank you for asking, Sweetheart," he cleared his throat and straightened his tie before speaking again. "So, I had a thought. This place has been under attack twice. Twice, Pepper. Did you realize that?"**_

" _ **As a matter of fact, I did. I had to organize the repairs. Both times."**_

" _ **Oh, right," Tony flinched. "Thanks for that, by the way. Superb job."**_

" _ **Keep going."**_

" _ **Right. So… like I was saying, this place has a huge target sign painted on it. Because, you know, it's the headquarters of the Avengers and all. Which is fine by me**_ _ **,**_ _ **but… The location. It just doesn't sit well with me, anymore. Honestly, I should've thought this through BEFORE I invited everyone to live and work here. You included, Honey. This place… it just isn't safe. And I know I can't make it completely safe because that is never an option anywhere, but that also means the city is that much more vulnerable because we're here."**_

 _ **Pepper nodded. At least his logic was sound.**_

" _ **Right. That makes sense. But, what about everything and everyone that is already here? What are your plans for that?"**_

" _ **We could relocate them. Everyone, right? We can store things in secure locations. People can be given the option to work remotely. That's all the rave for employees these days, right? Flexible work locations? Work from home? All that jazz."**_

" _ **Sure. We could. We can. But that also means**_ _ **we**_ _ **have to find a new place to live. With our home at Malibu gone and everyone knowing where it used to be…" Pepper shrugged, leaving the rest of her statement unfinished. She knew that Tony would understand what she had meant to say.**_

" _ **Well, then there's that… and, about that…" Tony began, his right index fingernail now scrapping against the desk, a sign that Pepper knew to be a nervous tick of his.**_

" _ **Oh, brother. What is it?"**_

 _ **Tony swallowed hard and then cleared his throat repeatedly, making Pepper that much more nervous about learning what he was having such a difficult time relaying to her. Thankfully, he did not make her wait too long.**_

" _ **I was thinking about that, too. About us. Even if we didn't sell the building, which we should either way – we… we should move, anyway. I mean, I love it here. I know you do, too. The convenience is great but… Well… We have to think past Monday, you know?"**_

" _ **Past Monday? You mean, like, Tuesday?" Pepper joked, unable to stop herself from mocking the inventor about his inability to think long-term.**_

 _ **Tony scoffed, accepting the obvious jab in stride with a nod.**_

" _ **Yeah. Yeah. All the way to Wednesday, can you believe that? I still don't know my social security number, BUT I learned the days of week."**_

 _ **Pepper chuckled, and Tony soon joined, too, but his laughter faded almost instantly; his face turning serious once again.**_

" _ **This place is great for us, as long as it's just the two of us. But we may not always be just the two of us."**_

 _ **Pepper's eyes instinctively landed on the locker where she had held the Iron Man onesie, and then at the corner trash bin where it had ended before being thrown out the building with the rest of the garbage, and then swallowed hard.**_

" _ **Oh-kay," she slowly closed her laptop and turned to face him completely.**_

" _ **I'm not…" he threw his hands in the air. "I'm not committing to anything or asking you to do something about it, right now. I'm just… trying to think long-term, you know? I… my parents did it – and a lot of people do. But I'd rather not, you know?"**_

" _ **Rather not do what?"**_

" _ **Oh, uhm," Tony pulled on his collar, "Raise… kids… in the city?"**_

" _ **Oh," Pepper pursed her lips and took a deep breath. "That. That-that's what you meant."**_

 _ **Tony shrugged, feeling uncomfortable with the conversation, but also knowing that it was somewhat overdue between them. They had been together for a long time, and they had had one pregnancy scare already, but that did not amount to talking things out.**_

" _ **I'm sure there's nothing wrong about it, but, well… what do you think about it? Do you have a preference? And I'm not just talking about a preference on city/suburbs living. I'm also asking… what I should've asked a long time ago. Really should've… is that… are kids something you've ever thought about?"**_

 _ **Pepper bit down on her tongue before giving her reply. The genius did truly just pick the worst of times to make his thoughts known.**_

" _ **It's crossed my mind as much as it crosses anyone's mind, I guess…"**_

" _ **But? I sense a**_ _ **but**_ _ **coming."**_

" _ **But, I thought you weren't into that… I mean, last time I thought I was, you… well…"**_

" _ **I know," Tony grimaced. "And I… well… just think about it, OK? This is a longer conversation, I know. And this is not the place for it. And you've got to go to your next meeting in, like, five, but... just think about it, and then we'll talk. Please?"**_

 _ **Talk**_ _ **, Pepper internally scoffed. Talk about what, exactly? Talk about how he had just told her that he was not opposed to having children with her, but she had just made herself infertile without talking to him about it? Sure! That conversation was going to go well.**_

 _ **Despite knowing that the talk he wanted would lead to a place he had no idea was coming and he would not like, she smiled at him and gave him a nod.**_

" _ **OK. We'll talk."**_

xxxXXXxxx

 _"Ms. Potts, this is Janet with Dr. Adler's office. We've been trying to reach you to discuss the results of your latest check-up. Please give us a call at your earliest convenience or stop by our office as soon as you can. You don't need to make an appointment. We will see you as soon as you get here. Thanks."_

She had had several unread emails and voicemails that sounded almost the same, all from Dr. Adler's office. She had been so busy during the trip that she had hardly checked her personal phone and email, but since Tony was busy playing scientist with Leonor Pinto, their investor in Brasilia, she had taken the time to catch up with her personal life. She was not a doctor or a mind reader, but she knew enough to know that, when your doctor wanted to discuss your health in person, it meant that something was wrong.

A sudden thought made Pepper pale and her eyes opened wide: what if Dr. Adler's office tried to contact Tony instead after so many failed attempts at getting ahold of her? What if he spoke to them and they told her what was wrong with her? What if they relayed to him the nature of her latest medical tests and he found out from them what she had done? Or worse, what if she was dying and he found out first?

Pepper chuckled at the irony of it. Was she meant to repeat Piero's story?

"Sure hope not," the ginger said as she closed her laptop and turned off her personal phone, her entire body shaking and her mind racing with a thousand thoughts. Whatever it was, no matter how horrid it would be, she would deal with it when they returned to New York. Just as she would deal with finally telling Tony what she had done.

xxxXXXxxx

" _ **OK. We'll talk."**_

 _What the fuck was she supposed to do after_ _ **that**_ _conversation?_

 _The reality was, what was left to do was obvious, but not as obvious was the way to do what needed to be done._

 _The redhead stopped at a red light on her way home, her fingers impatiently tapping against the steering wheel. The music coming from the radio was being more annoying than soothing, so she angrily pressed the button to turn it off. She had not been this nervous about something since she had been sitting at Dr. Adler's office, waiting for her surgery, and she had not thought that anything else would make her this anxious and scared. She was not sure how this conversation was going to go, and that made everything worse than it could have been._

 _Actually, no. That was a lie. She knew_ _ **how**_ _the conversation was going to go. What she did not know was how she was going to start a conversation that had the goal of breaking up with Tony_ _ **fucking**_ _Stark. Especially after he had asked her what she thought about having kids with him. Pepper sighed at the thought and then pressed her foot onto the accelerator when the streetlight turned green._

 _She knew that there was not much else to be done about it at this point. She had no one to blame for this other than herself and her rash decisions. She had no one else but herself to blame for the pain she was going to inflict upon the man she loved. She just simply could not expect and allow Tony to stay with her after what she had done, three days ago._

 _Today had been long and tedious, and the short recovery time she had given herself after her surgery had left her feeling even more exhausted than usual. She needed a true vacation; a real break. One in which Tony was not hovering over her; almost accidentally finding out about what she had done to her body behind his back – to their chances of procreating, and one in which she did not have to hide her rather important post-operative appointment attempts with Dr. Adler from a more-than-usually unstable Tony Stark._

 _The inventor had been acting rather peculiar for the past couple of weeks. He had been both overly obsessed with her chores and location_ _ **and**_ _somewhat distant and disengaged. One moment, he acted as if he was too busy with his own things to notice if she stayed late at the office. The next moment, he was calling her and asking her what her itinerary was like and when he should expect her at home. It was as if he was simultaneously giving signs of someone who was afraid that something was wrong with a committed relationship and was trying to mend it without knowing what the issue was, and someone who might be doing a poor job at hiding an affair._

 _The side-effects of willingly messing with one's hormones and womanhood had gotten the best of her and, sometimes, Pepper Potts had thought, if just for the briefest of moments, that Tony Stark could perhaps be cheating on her. But, then again, she doubted a man who was cheating on a woman would pretty much ask said woman if she wanted to have children with him in the near future._

 _Whatever the reason behind it was, it would soon not matter at all. She had made a final decision that had changed her life, and now she had to live with it. Alone._

" _Here it goes."_

 _The first thing that Pepper noticed as she arrived home was that every light in their penthouse was off, which was something odd, since the sun had set hours ago. As she got closer to the living room, it dawned on her that the only source of illumination in the place was a myriad of candles that highlighted the serene music in the background, which she had just now realized was playing in the first place. It was a tune she recognized, one that she loved, but right now it felt like daggers to her heart._

 _She slowed down her steps, her heart racing at what this ambience could mean for her. This was hardly the best atmosphere for a breakup: Tony clearly had other plans for them for tonight – but she knew that there was no going back. She had to carry on with her plans._

 _She dropped her purse on the couch, licked her lips in nervousness, and then saw Tony's outline in the dark._

" _Tony?"_

 _Pepper squinted her eyes to watch him come closer to her, his posture not yet giving anything away of what his intentions were. Knowing him, and despite the state of the living room, this welcome home did not have to be entirely romantic in nature, so she forced herself not to panic just yet. One time, he had done something similar to this to celebrate that he had finally fixed a very tricky mechanical issue with one of his cars. That celebration had included candles, champagne and music, and it had ended with them having sex on the trunk of said vehicle to "christen it."_

 _History tended to repeat itself. Maybe it was doing so right now._

" _What's going on?" she tried to sound nonchalant. "Why are all the lights off?"_

 _When the inventor finally stood just two feet away from her, the way he looked at her and the way he was dressed told her everything she needed to know. This was serious. She had been wrong. Stupidly hopeful for something other than this happening. This was not a celebration for another awesome invention or for revamping an old car. This was the beginning of what she should have known was coming after the conversation they had had._

 _This was it. What she had been fearing would happen before she was ready: finding out that whatever had had Tony acting bizarre all this time had been big, and it was finally going to come out of the bag._

 _Or the box. The jewelry_ _ **box**_ _he now had in his hand._

 _ **Oh, shit!**_

 _It was the last thing she needed right now. It was the last fucking thing that she wanted to deal with, at the moment, not even a handful of days after her surgery. It was the ONE thing she had hoped he would not do after all. Not after what she had just done to herself, days ago. Not after she had decided it was best to end their relationship, after everything she had done to screw up a happy future with him._

 _For weeks, she had thought long and hard about how to end it with him, as soon as she had set a date for her sterilization treatment. How to make it so that he could not say_ _ **no**_ _to her wishes of breaking up. She had been delaying the inevitable while avoiding sleeping with him, and maybe he had sensed it because of it. Maybe he had been wondering if she was getting ready to bail, so it had prompted him into action. She thought that she had been subtle about it. She thought that she had kept it enough under wraps while she figured out a way to let him down easy. To leave no room for discussion or_ _ **what**_ _ **ifs**_ _. But it seemed that she had taken too long to cut ties with him. Given too many signs that warned him of an impending and unwanted shift in their relationship. It appeared that she had perhaps inadvertently pushed him to do the exact opposite of what her plan was._

 _ **No**_ _. It was all that could go through her mind when she saw what he was about to do._ _ **No, Tony. Please, don't.**_

 _Before she could stop him, however; before she could spare him the heartbreaking outcome that she already knew was coming, he was down on one knee and in front of her, saying a bunch of words she could not make herself hear from him, with an opened ring box in hand she refused to look at. She was sure that whatever he was saying was beautiful and romantic, would have made her cry with love, but her mind could not focus on any of it._

" _Marry me."_

 _The last part of his speech was all she caught. And it was enough for her mouth to get ahead of her brain._

" _I'm moving out."_

 _Tony wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion, yet he did not move from the floor. He blinked several times, rehashing his speech in his head, tilted his head to the side, and then cleared his throat before speaking again._

" _Uhm… This is my first time proposing, so it's all still new to me, but I'm pretty sure the choices for answers are either_ _ **Yes**_ _or_ _ **No**_ _."_

" _Tony," Pepper's chest started to constrict as she took a step back from him. "Please, don't do this."_

" _Don't do what? I don't… I don't understand… Did you hear anything I just said?"_

" _I'm leaving," she said without preamble, seeing no sense to sugarcoat the truth for him anymore. "I… I've thought about it, just like I said I would, and we… this is not working out anymore."_

 _The genius was visibly taken aback by the redhead's words and he sprung to his feet, his mouth gaping and his head lightly shaking from side to side._

" _Wait? Are you being serious? You… you're moving out?"_

" _Yes."_

" _But… why?" he snapped shut the jewelry box after briefly glaring at the ring, "I mean… how long? Are you coming back? What-what-what did I do?"_

 _Pepper felt tears prickle her eyes, but she did not allow her emotions to take away her words. She had one chance to make sure that Tony understood her decision was final, and she could not afford to screw it up. No matter how much his current demeanor was stabbing at her soul._

" _It's been coming, Tony. I… you… I just can't trust you. I can't…" she sighed and shook her head from side to side, hoping words that could make sense to him would magically came to her, even if they were partial lies._

" _Trust me? You feel like you_ _ **can't**_ _trust me? Pepper, I…" he placed his left palm on his chest. "I've been so faithful to you. I haven't looked at anyone else but you. You know that. I'm_ _ **not**_ _interested in anyone else but you! Why do you think that I—"_

" _I know! I know! Not_ _ **that**_ _kind of trust. I mean… it's… You just, keep breaking your promises, Tony. You just keep putting yourself in danger and I just can't do that anymore."_

" _Oh," Tony's shoulders deflated. "So, it's about me being Iron Man?"_

 _Pepper nodded, not trusting herself to clarify the extent that his actions as Iron Man had led her to this: to having two miscarriages under her belt; her tubes tied; and the reality of no children in the future for them if she stayed with him, if he remained doing what he loved. It was not that she was leaving him_ _ **just**_ _for being Iron Man. It was more that she was leaving him because_ _ **she**_ _could not deal with the stress of being_ _ **with**_ _Iron Man. Or with the stress of confessing to him that she would never bear him a child because she had made a hasty decision. And that his superhero persona had already made her lose two._

 _He would never stop being who he was, no matter what. Because he did not want to stop. And they both knew that._

" _I told you," the ginger began, "A long time ago, that you were going to kill yourself, being Iron Man. And I also told you that I wasn't going to be part of it. So, this is me: not being a part of it anymore."_

" _But, Pepper, we… we-we talked about this. It's been so long since then. You… I thought we were OK?"_

 _Tony was currently calmer than she thought he would be. But she knew that this was just the tip of the iceberg. It appeared that he truly had no idea she was planning to break it up, so his anger and hurt was taking longer than usual to make their appearance and guide his words. For him, her telling him it was over between them was coming entirely out of the left field. For her, this was a chance to do the damage and run like hell away from his upcoming wrath._

" _ **You**_ _are OK. You blew up your suits and said you would let this go but then… then you went with S.H.I.E.L.D. to dismantle HYDRA. And then you kept doing missions on the side. Built more suits and more tech, and got even more involved with The Avengers. You even tried to take it global with Ultron, and you know that if he had worked out you would always have had to be involved with what he was doing to make sure he was being effective. Tony, you_ _ **never**_ _left the business because you can't. You_ _ **need**_ _Iron Man. You said you would stop. You said you were done with all of it. But you're not. You never will. And I can't do that to myself. Not anymore."_

 _The opening and closing of his mouth like a fish out of water told her that he had nothing to refute her claims. He had gone back on his promise to put their relationship above his superhero life and they both knew it. She had known it for a long time, and he had known that she had known it, too. She just had not called him out on it, until now. And he had secretly hoped that she never did._

" _This can't be it," he finally said, his gaze on the floor, his worst nightmare coming true before his eyes. "I mean," he half-chuckled, half-sobbed. "There must be a way for us to… We… we can work this out. I… I… I-I-I love you, Pepper."_

" _But you don't love me enough not to lie to me. To not make promises you can't keep. You don't love me enough to stop being Iron Man. And I love you enough not to ask you to. Because I know what it means to you. What it represents. I can't ask you to let go of something you love so much."_

" _Then why are you asking me to let go of you?"_

 _Touché. He had her there. Or so he thought._

" _Because you can. Because it's the best thing for us. Because it's time. Because you once had a chance to choose between us and Iron Man. And even though you said you chose us, he's still here."_

 _In all their years together, Pepper Potts had rarely seen Tony Stark openly cry. She had sure as hell never seen him sob the way he was doing so right now. And she had been sure as fuck that she would never be the cause for any of it. Yet, here she was: wrong on all accounts._

" _So, that's it? You can just walk away from this? From us? I thought… I thought we were stronger than this," he sniffled, the anger finally starting to show. "I thought we were fine. Making it work. I didn't even… I never even imagined that you would–"_

 _Yes, here it was. What she had been both fearing and bracing herself for, finally staring her in the face._

" _Tony, you knew something was happening. I know you did. You were acting strange. I'm sure this proposal is you just rushing into things."_

 _It was a shot in the dark – a cheap shot. But it was all she had._

" _Shows what you know," he scoffed despite himself and wiped his face with his hands. "I was acting strange because I was afraid you would find out I was proposing to you before I did. Because you're that good, and because I'm that shitty at keeping a secret this big. I mean, come on, Pepper! You know me! The first time I ever had a chance to address Iron Man and deny it was me, instead of sticking to the damn story, I told the world who I was. Do you really think I was going to be all smooth at planning to propose to you? I… I was nervous as fuck and excited as hell and I couldn't wait to tell the world that we… that we…"_

 _Pepper hugged herself and looked away from him when his eyes fell onto the ring box he was now holding with unnecessary strength in a shaking fist. She knew that she needed rush out of there, but she could not make herself move. Her mind screamed to her legs to run, but she remained rooted to her spot. If she continued to watch him crumble and fall apart, however, if she continued to stay near him, she would never leave. She would never keep this deal of hers. She would break as many promises as he had done so, so far._

 _Then again, she also knew that if she did not give him something to hold onto at the moment, he would not allow her to leave. He would hide all of her belongings, if he had to, and follow her to wherever she went. He would not let go of her just like that. He would not stay away and move on with his life without her unless she gave him something to strive for. Some semblance of hope – as fake as it was._

 _If she just did to him what he had done to her: say things and make promises she really did not mean, as much as she hated lying to him, that would buy her a chance to put some distance between them. And, God! She_ _ **needed**_ _it! She needed time alone with herself so badly!_

 _With that thought in mind, and with desperation speaking for her, the lie was out her lips before she could reign it in._

" _I just… need some time, Tony. Time apart, from you. From us. From all this. I'm tired. So tired of it."_

 _Hearing her contradicting words made the genius' head snap up to face her; his eyes narrowed and his chest rising and falling rapidly._

" _You're tired of me?"_

" _No. Just of this."_

" _Tired of us?"_

" _Tired of what us being together entails."_

" _So, what?" Tony angrily threw the ring box against the wall and then began pacing toward her as he spoke, "What… what are you asking for? Do you even know? 'Cuz you just said that you're moving out in response to me asking you to marry me. That it's not working out between us. But now you're saying you need time? What exactly do you want, Potts? Fuck me up? Because it's working!"_

 _Pepper shrugged and tried not to look hurt by the use of her last name in such a hateful manner. He was losing his cool – had already lost it, in fact, but she could not blame him for his tantrum. She had caused it. She was feeding it with her lies, but she was so tired of everything that she had no energy left to think of something better to do or say._

" _Right now, all I need is time. A break. From this."_

" _From me? From us?"_

" _From all of it."_

" _From all of it?" Tony scoffed and flared his nostrils. "Of course, you do. I'm such a fucking idiot. Here I am, telling you I want to marry you. Have kids with you. And you tell me you want to leave me? Huh! You're some piece of work, Pepper."_

" _Tony, please don't make this harder than it already is."_

" _For whom? For you? Are you kidding me? This is not hard for you!_ _ **You're**_ _the one leaving._ _ **You're**_ _the one calling it quits. You… people don't just wake up one day and decide to leave the person they love, Pepper. They check out long before that. You… you've been gone a long time ago, haven't you? That's why you haven't slept with me, isn't it?"_

 _Pepper lowered her head and shuddered._

" _I didn't know how to tell you. I couldn't think of a good way to tell you the truth."_

 _Tony's breathing turned ragged. His entire body shook so much that she could sense it. He was about to blow up. He was about to show her a side of him she had never seen._

" _Is… is there someone else?"_

" _W-what?"_

" _You heard me! Is there someone else already? You fucking someone else behind my back?"_

 _Her eyes went wide. This turning of tables she had not expected at all. "Tony, how could you even–"_

"' _Cuz you're sure as hell haven't been fucking me!"_

" _Fucking? FUCKING? Is that what it's been to you, all this time? Just fucking?"_

" _Don't give me crap!" he snapped at her. "You know exactly what I mean. So, who is it, huh? Who's been giving it you instead of me? Do I know him? Know_ _ **them**_ _?"_

 _Them? Did he seriously think that she was cheating on him with several men?_

" _You know what?" Pepper snatched her purse from the couch. "I don't have to stand here and be talked to like one of your one-night stands. So, when you're ready to talk to me about this like an adult, you call me, alright?"_

" _Don't hold your breath, Sweetheart."_

" _Whatever. I'll send someone over to pick up my stuff."_

" _Yeah, why don't you send your new lover? I need to warn him about you!" he yelled at her retreating form, anger coursing through his veins and then boiling to the point of eruption until he saw the jewelry box on the floor. It had opened upon impact; the ring nowhere to be seen from where he stood. That was his mother's ring. That was all he had left of her. And he had just thrown it away and treated it like yesterday's garbage, as if it was at fault for his pain or deserved the worst._

 _Just like he was treating Pepper right now._

 _But what was he expected to do? The woman he had spent almost half of his life with had just told him that she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. That she was tired of the life they both led. That she was done being there for him. That she could no longer bear to live with him. That she did not see a life together with him. That his dreams of family and dying old together were completely one-sided, and had been unrequited for some time now._

 _But she was still Pepper Potts – the person that had done more for him than anyone else he knew. The woman that had stood by him when he acted like a child or an ass. Or both. As he was doing so right now._

 _She did not deserve his attitude; his venomous words. Even if what she had just told him was breaking his heart and shattering his soul. Even if she had just done to him what he had done to the many women he had used and tossed._

 _And if he let her go like that, with their last words exchanged being ones of anger and reproach, he would never forgive himself. They would never be the same, if he did not man up and talk about this like adults._

 _ **Fuck!**_

" _Pepper, wait! Please, I'm sorry! WAIT, PLEASE!"_

 _But it was too late. She was gone._

xxxXXXxxx

Damn Dr. Adler's cryptic emails and voicemails! She had not been able to stop thinking about what it could all mean. More than once, she had reached for her phone to call the doctor's personal line to get it over with, but every time she had hesitated at the last second. She had already told herself that she would wait until they arrived at New York, and she would. She had to. They only had one more investor to visit and she needed to be sane for it.

Nevertheless, the not knowing was killing her inside. It was hard enough counting down the seconds to telling Tony what he had a right to know. She did not need the added stress of having to talk to her doctor about who-knew-what was wrong with her health, too.

Then again, perhaps this was a sign of the universe that she needed to let Tony in on her intentions. Maybe, this was an opportunity to broach the subject with him – or at least give him a heads-up that it was in the works. It was about time, anyway. She _had_ promised him that they would have the conversation one more time once the break was done.

With that thought in mind, and before she could chicken out of it, the words practically exploded out of her.

"I'm ready. I mean, not right now, this very moment. But, when we get back to New York. I'm ready to talk."

Tony looked up from his laptop, fingers going still hovering over the keyboard, and he narrowed his eyes at her in confusion. He did not recall saying anything or asking anything. In fact, he thought that she was working on the reports for the board members as intensely as he was. Evidently, something else had been crossing her mind and she had voiced it while he had been zoned out. And he had definitely missed whatever it was.

 _Damn!_

"I'm sorry, Honey, what?"

Pepper exhaled and nodded. "The talk. I… I would like for us to have the talk when we get back home."

Tony puckered his lips and further narrowed his eyes. "Babe, I think you know that I already had the talk. It was awkward, but I've already been told about the birds and the bees. Unless you have brand-new information I don't know about."

"Huh?" it was Pepper's turn to look confused. He smirked and winked at her as he waited for her mind to catch up. The moment her eyes widened and she huffed, Tony knew that she had finally arrived at the end of the thought process.

"Ugh! Tony, I'm serious, OK?"

"OK," he chuckled and closed the lid of his laptop. "And I'm thinking you want me to be serious, too, but I can't be until you give more context. Maybe. More likely than not. What talk are you referring to, anyway?"

Pepper gulped, closed the lid of her laptop, and then braced herself for his response. She hoped that her generic answer would help him understand what she was talking about without actually coming out and saying it. She did not feel like she had the energy to be as clear as day right now. Thankfully, she would not need to say much at all.

"Can you, uhm… can you make reservations at the _Per Se_?"

"What?"

This time, it was Tony who struggled to get to the end of the thought process himself. Once he did, however – rather slowly, at that – his face turned as solemn as the situation called for. He had not been expecting this to happen out-of-the-blue. In fact, he had somewhat given up on the conversation ever taking place. Or at least, not in the original terms they had once talked about. Many things had changed since then. And even worse things had happened, too. There was just so much more at stake today than there had been, months back.

But this _was_ what he had wanted then. And he still wanted it now.

"Oh! Sure. Uhm… what day?"

"The fifth? July fifth?"

"The day after we get home?"

"Yeah. That day."

"All right," he replied as he slowly stood up, cell phone in hand. "Morning or night? Any preference?"

"Night, please?" she would need the entire day to prepare herself for it.

"You got it, Pep," he answered, a small smile on his face that she knew was not one of happiness, but of the same worry she felt at the moment, as he walked towards their bedroom in the jet to make the call.

 _It's time, Pepper_ , the redhead told herself. _It's time._

xxxXXXxxx

 _It took him almost a week and several phone calls after she had ended it and had walked out of their home for both of them to be in a place where they could talk things out without snapping at each other. And it took yet another week to clear up their schedule, find a neutral spot to talk, and then agree on a time to meet._

 _The time was now._

 _And, to her surprise, she was the one that was late to a meeting she had not even wanted to come to in the first place._

 _"I'm sorry," Pepper immediately apologized as she sat in the chair opposite to Tony's at what was their usual table in their favorite restaurant, the_ _ **Per Se**_ _. The owner of the location had a secret room at the very back of the site for patrons that requested absolute privacy during their visit. A call and a day of wait had been all that had been required of Tony to secure the spot._

 _"It's OK," Tony sat back down awkwardly after he had stood up to pull the chair for her, but she had beaten him to the task._

 _"I'm still sorry," Pepper said after a sigh._

 _"Don't be. I just got here myself. Traffic was a bitch," Tony lied. He had been here for hours, not wanting to be late to what could become the last opportunity for him to fix things with his former girlfriend. Begrudgingly, it did not escape his mind that it had taken Pepper being this upset at his ass for him to get his shit together and arrive at one of their dates on time; which, in turn, was probably one of the reasons why they were in this predicament in the first place._

 _Then again, in all technicality, this was not a date._

 _"OK, well… Anyway…" she inhaled deeply and brushed loose strands of hair from her face. Knowing ever since she had agreed to this meeting that she wanted to finish ripping the band-aid as quickly as she could, for her sake, she wasted no time in choosing her next words._

" _So, uhm… where do you want to start? Maybe with coming up with a good plan to let people know about the separation?"_

 _Not even a minute into their conversation, and he already did not like her stance or words._

 _"Uhm," Tony rubbed his right index finger against his forehead, something she knew he did when he was struggling to gather his thoughts. "I, uhm… I actually would like to continue… where we left off. I… I just don't understand why… where…" Tony groaned in frustration and gestured wildly with his hands in a way that showed his confusion with the entire situation._

" _Look, Pep: this was completely unexpected to me. I had no idea you felt this way and I… I don't feel like it's fair that you ended things like this. Without even giving me a chance to fix things. I just–"_

 _The moment Pepper pursed her lips and slightly narrowed her eyes, he knew that her defenses had gone up at his words. If she had given him the opportunity to flinch at the gesture, he would have. But the redhead was quick to interrupt the rest of his statement with one of her own._

 _"You don't FEEL it was fair? To whom, exactly? To you? Because if we're gonna talk about fairness, you haven't been fair to me either. You've been doing everything_ _ **you**_ _want to do – even things you said you wouldn't do anymore – and you haven't even stopped to ask if I've been OK with any of them."_

 _Tony raised his left palm to her._

" _OK. Let me stop you right there. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you've never been one to hold back your tongue, Sweetheart. We've known each other for years, and not once have you not made sure I know how much you hate something I did or said. You even tried to quit on me because of it! That… that's… that's always been us, Pepper. That hasn't changed."_

 _Pepper crossed her arms over her chest and scoffed. "And what exactly has that done for me? For us? You still do what you want to do, even if I don't agree with it or tell you not to do it. You still get your way."_

 _"Not for the things that really matter. Or at least, not for the things that involve us. Together."_

 _A raised eyebrow and a tilt of the head was the only response that Pepper gave him before he raised his hands in a defeated gesture._

 _"OK, fine! Me still being Iron Man was something that mattered and it affected us both. But, in my defense, that's why I didn't give it up. Why I couldn't give it up. Because if I did, I wouldn't have anything to protect you when the alien assholes came back, and that is not an option for me, Pepper. You know that."_

 _"OK. So, what you're saying is that, you'd rather me be mad at you about breaking your promise to cut down on Iron Man, and anything related to it, as long as it keeps me safe? Am I hearing you right?"_

 _"Not in those exact words but… yeah… essentially. I guess, one could say that?"_

 _"Is that so?"_

 _"Yeah?" he winced._

 _"Well, then we don't have a problem."_

 _"We don't?"_

" _No. We don't. Not anymore at least. Because, the only reason why I would be in danger in the first place, is because I'm with you. In fact, the times I have been in danger, it WAS because of you. So, since we're no longer together, you get both things you want: you get to be Iron Man, and I am safe."_

 _Tony opened and closed his mouth a few times, tried to begin making a retort he was unable to fully create, and then finally groaned._

 _"Yes?" the redhead prodded, knowing full well that he did not really have anything to argue with. His lack of an instant reply proved her point._

 _And there it was. The unspoken truth they both had known but had never brought up: she was only in danger because she was connected to him. Whether they had never talked about it because it was just too obvious or because it was irrelevant to do so since they_ _ **had been**_ _together, neither was sure. Now, however, the situation had changed. Now, there was no reason not to talk about it. In fact, this was the only time such a topic would make sense to explore._

 _"OK. All right. I'll give you that. But…" he cleared his throat, gulped, clenched his eyes shut, and then his mouth closed once more with a sigh of defeat._

 _This time, however, Pepper waited patiently for him to say his piece. It felt like she needed him to – like she should, even if she ended up not liking what he could end up replying after he finally gathered his thoughts. In truth, she did not want to give Tony too many opportunities to come up with an argument that would force her to tell him the truth, but she also knew that if she did not give Tony a chance to make his case, he would keep asking her to meet until it became inevitable for her to be completely honest with him about what she had done. And being honest with him was something she could not yet do when she was not being truthful with herself about how she really felt about everything. About how much she now regretted her decision to sterilize herself._

 _She waited for what felt like days, even though only a handful of silent minutes had passed between them. And then, when Tony continued to stare into the void and no other words came out of him after three more minutes after that, she cleared her throat and spoke again._

" _But you wanted to have your cake, and to eat it too."_

 _Tony scoffed and nodded slightly, her words summarizing the many answers that had been going through his head._

 _"Yeah, I did. The thing is, though: I thought it was OUR cake. I thought we both wanted it."_

 _Pepper swallowed hard and dropped her eyes to stare at the salt and pepper shakers in the middle of the table. It was the only way she would be able to say the next words._

" _I thought so, too. I did, at some point."_

 _Tony nodded again, his gaze traveling towards his side of the table, also unable to stare directly at her._

" _But now you don't anymore."_

 _A shake of the head that he did not even register was her only response. He did not need to look at her to know what her answer was, anyway. Her silence, and the fact that she had declined his marriage proposal, spoke louder than anything she could have said to him at the moment._

 _It was done. She was done. With him. She had finally come to the end of her rope. She wanted nothing to do with him. She did not want to love him. She had not come to this meeting to try to work things out. She had come here to further cement her point that they could no longer be. And now he had come to terms with it, too._

 _Her breath hitched in her throat when she saw his trembling hands turn into fists and heard him exhale almost painfully so. Flashbacks of how the first attempt at this conversation between then had ended flooded her mind. This is how he had looked before he had exploded in anger at her in their home. This was the only warning he had given her before he had all but accused her of cheating on him – perhaps with several people. And, damn it all! She did not want a repeat of that._

 _She opened her mouth to say anything that could potentially soothe him before he blew up like a volcano, but he was faster than her… again._

" _Half of my life, Pepper," his voice was soft and gentle, despite how broken he looked. "Half of our life."_

" _What?"_

 _He looked up at her and gave her a small smile, tears shinning in his eyes._

" _That's how long we've been together. Almost half of our lives. I guess… I guess I never thought I'd see the day you'd call it quits on us. I figured…" he sniffled, "I figured that, if you hadn't left by now, you never would."_

 _Pepper wrung her hands together and sighed._

" _You may think that it isn't, but this is hard for me, too, Tony. The things we've been through together… You… you became my best friend before I even realized I loved you as more than that. Even when I was just your assistant. And maybe that's what I did wrong. I… I ignored the boundaries. I set myself up for this."_

" _Because you wanted it, Pepper. And I wanted it too. Not consciously at first, I'm sure, but… when I finally realized what you meant to me. How much I needed you in my life? There was no turning back for me. There IS no turning back for me. You're it, Pep. You just… it's always been you."_

 _Pepper closed her eyes and looked away, the phrase he had just uttered taking her back to the moment he had asked her to be his CEO._

" **I'm trying to make you CEO. Why won't you let me?"**

 _That question, in and of itself, had been some kind of a proposal, in a manner of speaking. And now, years later, his next proposal was him asking her to be his wife – and she was not letting him do that either. It was not an option any more._

" _I need time, Tony," she fell back on her previous escape phrase, unable to find anything else to say to him that was not the simple truth. "Can you do that?"_

" _Is it really a choice?" he sighed and slumped his shoulders. "You're breaking up with me, anyway, whether I say_ _ **yes**_ _or_ _ **no**_ _to taking time. Does it really matter what I say? Does it really make any difference at all?"_

 _Well, at the very least, he was being more calm and rational about it than he had been the last time. That had to count for something, right? All that was left_

" _It's a choice, and it does make a difference. You have the choice to decide if you want to leave it open to talk about this later on or not. It's your choice to decide if you want to work things out on your end to see if there's a chance at compromise, or to take the time to figure out what our lives will be like if we end up staying apart. Because, you know the nightmare that's gonna be. There're just some things that I need to think about. Work through by myself. And maybe, after I find answers for myself, we can see if trying again is something you'd want."_

" _Or something_ _ **you**_ _'d still want."_

" _Or that," she conceded._

 _Technically, she was not completely lying to him. This was, in actuality, the closest she could come to telling him the truth. She_ _ **did**_ _need the time to think things through. The time that she had been thinking of taking before she had been denied the opportunity when he had proposed to her. The time she should have taken before undergoing the procedure that had changed the rest of her life._

 _It could be, too, that it was too late to take the time now to deliberate on the consequences of her decisions. But it was, nevertheless, something she had to do either way. There would be no coming clean to Tony about her feelings and experience if she did not completely embrace the situation herself. Besides, maybe her telling him that she could no longer bear his children would be the one thing he could not forgive of her. Maybe, him having the knowledge that she had selfishly taken it upon herself to make a decision for the both of them without consulting him would be the final straw. Perhaps, the realization that she had done the one thing she was all so high-and-mightily accusing him of doing: choosing for the both of them, would be the reason this breakup would become permanent after all._

 _But she still needed time, regardless of what his final decision would be once the conversation came about. She needed time away from him. Away from the places and people that kept the wound open and exposed. Time to prepare herself for the drama that would follow if she permanently separated from him even if he still wanted her and she did not – and for preparing for her heart to break if he decided that he no longer wanted anything to do with her and she did._

" _Look," she took one of his hands in hers and locked eyes with him, surprised that he did not pull back or looked away from her. "I can't see the future, so I can't promise you anything except for one thing."_

" _What's that?" he asked in defeat and squeezed her hand, knowing and fearing that the end of the conversation was near. She had clearly already made up her mind, weeks ago. He was just here to accept that she had._

 _Despite the pain that she knew her gesture would bring to the both of them, she lifted his hand to her mouth and grazed it with her lips, pulling a shuddering breath out of them both. She then placed his hand on her chest, covered it with her other hand, and then spoke the only entirely truthful line she would utter the entire night._

" _I'll be there, Tony. No matter what."_

 _Tony nodded once, brushed her cheek with the back of his free hand, and then smiled sadly as he spoke his next words._

" _And I will still love you, Pepper. No matter what."_


	17. Chapter 16: Mexico City

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Thank you for the favorite/follow:** _kata-lolly._

 **Lena: Oh gosh :( This chapter hurt my heart for Tony. Like hurt incredibly bad. Pepper should've trusted him more. She always disliked when he kept things from her and here she was doing the exact same thing. –** YES! This is exactly the main issue here (well, there are others, but this is the common theme here). Pepper is being a big, fat hypocrite. And she knows that now. Acceptance is the first step to recovery :)

 **stormtrooper1: Damn, this story! It's fantatic but it's breaking my heart. And, I realize Pepper thinks that the whole thing about not having kids is irreversible, yet if they can create life out of an AI, Vibranium and whatever Dr. Cho had in that crate, I'm sure they can find a way around what Pepper did to herself. Thanks for sharing! –** Huuuuuh, that is totally true. I mean, I already have the ending in mind and it doesn't relate to super science but, yeah… you have an excellent point there. Thanks for reading and reviewing ^_^

 **PolishGirl: Even though this chapter made me cry I still loved it! I hope in the next chapter Pepper will tell Tony everything and I look forward what Tony's reaction will be. Please let them have kids! :D Hope for a quick update, don't keep us waiting too long! ;) –** I hope this is a short wait? *hides* I'm working on the final chapter, too. I hope to have them up by New Year's :D

 **Stark13: I cried when I read your chapter ! So sad... But a very beautiful chapter. Really really impatient to read the end. Thank you so much again for your story ! –** Your patience shall be rewarded! I can absolutely promise you that :)

 **Pepperonylove: It hurts so much! I wanna curl up in my bed and cry.**

 **This chapter is sooooooo heartbreaking. Pls give us the next chapter so we could go back to happy Pepper and Tony. :P –** No, don't cry! And, uhm, sorry… we have some more angst here. But this the worst of it. Pinky promise.

 **A/N:** Kinda late, but I hope everyone had a great Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukah, and/or whatever other special occasion that you hold dear during these times (or even if you don't celebrate at all, like myself). Hold on to your seats, my faithful readers. The end is coming.

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Mexico City**

Venice, Madrid, London, Pretoria, Dubai, Dhaka, Moscow, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney and Brasilia: all the cities around the world they had visited since starting this trip. Being in every single one of them, along with the investors that lived within them, had provided Tony and Pepper with different personal experiences. And they had also taught them new things. New things about the business. New things about the circle of life. New things about themselves and about who they _could_ become.

In Venice, Piero's terminal illness reminded them of how short life could be. How everything and anything you had ever worked so hard to attain could come to an end when you least expected it, and in ways you had not even considered. It had reminded them that, even if you had done everything right or had done nothing wrong, life would still do whatever it wanted to do, and that no action or inaction on one's part was a guarantee to gaining something great or of being spared something awful.

In Madrid, Raul had showed them the dark side of marriage, and what bitterness and lack of communication did to people who had once been in love enough to get married. People who had once had mutual dreams and hopes, including the desire to bring new lives into the world. He had also shown them what ignorance did to people. How it made them angry and stupid. How it made them do and say things that did not make sense for the sake of justifying their own shortcomings. Raul had reminded them that, most people at least, would much rather put down others and shove unfounded beliefs down someone else's throat than to take the time and effort to improve themselves. Blissfully ignorant people would rather go to crazy lengths to save face than accepting they were wrong.

In London, Jack had extended Raul's lesson of how bad marriages started. He had shown them the early stages of how marriages with shaky foundations led to bitterness, and how the appalling behaviors bled onto everything else that these ignorant, abusive and demeaning humans touched. In this case, Jack's denial and lack of acceptance that he was the reason why he could never procreate with anyone had led him to resent his wife and adoptive son. It had given him a poor excuse to fool around behind his wife's back; to use his money and power to try to exert dominance on his partners, personal and business alike; to overcompensate for his inadequacies and coercing them to bend to his will. It was despicable and not a great business practice, and it would someday come back to bite him in the ass. Raul had shown Pepper a future she did not want to be a part of: one where she and Tony lied to each other, for years to come.

Then, in Pretoria, Yolandi had taught them that Jack and Raul's sleazy and entitled attitudes were not something that could be limited just to the male gender. Yolandi was as manipulative and conniving as the other two previous investors were. In fact, she probably got away with more than Raul and Jack did, simply because it was difficult to believe that a woman – the gender that was _perceived_ to be nurturing, comforting and understanding – would ever amount to doing the awful things men like Jack and Raul did. Not many people would believe that vile thoughts ever crossed the woman's mind, so it gave her an advantage over her male counterparts when using others to do her will. This advantage would too one day become the cause of her demise; when she least expected it, as well.

Dubai, however, had been an entirely different story. Abd al Jabbar had shown them nothing but kindness. He had reminded them of the power of good people who left behind great legacies and mutually-beneficial partnerships, and why it was best to nurture these relationships more than the more profitable ones that came from questionable individuals. Abd had trusted them right of the bat because his father had trusted them. Abd had not questioned their intent and contract because he did not believe that Tony and Pepper had ever given him a reason to do so. It was the complete opposite of the three previous investors they had met before landing in Dubai: a person who did not assume the worst from everyone and everything, and who had not preemptively attacked before being wronged.

Dhaka, nonetheless, had shaken things up for them yet again. Their investor had been nice and open – very much like Abd had been. He had also been receptive, and a fine example of a man fully devoted to his family and work. However, Pepper's captors had reminded them that not everyone used legitimate means to make a living – a tidbit that Tony had already known from firsthand experience: Obadiah Stane had made sure that he learned that lesson for the rest of his life. The line between doing what was right and doing what was necessary to put food on the table blurred sometimes. But in a world where everything, even basic needs, had a price, it was stupid to believe that people would not do what they thought was their only option to survive. Neither Tony nor Pepper thought that the need for food and shelter justified harming another human being, but satisfying these needs by any means possible was a hidden, unfortunate caveat of the system of money and trade. To ensure that enough resources were available for anyone who was willing and able to cover the costs for obtaining them, the excess population – the so-called _weak_ and poor ones, had to choose between stealing, dying and finding extreme ways to make ends meet. And in between all that choosing, they ran the risk of being excessively punished for being born into a situation they had not asked to live with in the first place.

It was this harsh reality that had driven Tony's actions, once he had fully understood the power he held in his hands: the existence of inequity in the world and the unbalanced distribution of its resources. He could not fix everyone's problems everywhere – not in his lifetime, at least – but he sure as hell was going to try. He did not want to be like Jack, or like Raul, or like Yolandi. He wanted to be like Abd, like Param, like Mayako, like Greg, like Leonor, and like Federico. He wanted to put the right resources in the right hands so that others could benefit from the results. He wanted to leave behind the foundation of a future where no one went to bed hungry, went without shelter or medical care, without education or clothes. He wanted people to become the opposite of a quarter of the twelve individuals they were supposed to encounter during this trip. He wanted future generations to be like the other nine of the bunch, including the crazy motherfucker that had almost gotten him killed in a snowstorm.

Each one of their investors had gotten them closer and closer to fulfilling the purpose of this trip: gathering up the funds to support all the people that could carry out Tony's wish for the world. In fact, they had already secured even more money than they had intended to obtain. Which, in turn, had also lead them closer and closer to the trip's end, in Mexico City with Federico Robles. After that, it was a non-stop flight home to New York. And then, after wrapping up the last details of the business trip and debriefing the Board, this chapter of their lives would be over, for better or for worse. What had started as a simple brainchild of one of the Board Members had turned into a mostly positive, eye-opening experience for the two of them, despite their initial reluctance to be a part of it. Yet, like everything else in this world, all good things had to come to an end.

And, if the phone conversation with Happy a few hours ago had any merit, this particularly good thing could come to a rough end before it got the chance to become something better. Perhaps sooner than their meeting at the _Per Se_.

The thought of not being in the same space as Pepper after this journey ended made Tony look up from his laptop to stare at the ever-working redhead who was as focused on her tasks as ever. They had decided to take advantage of the eleven-hour flight from Brasilia to Mexico City to begin wrapping up the details of the trip, which entailed a lot of tedious tasks. They had slept for nearly half the trip. Had made love a couple of times after waking up. Had showered together, eaten, and were now spending the last couple of hours of the trip taking care of their respective parts of the boring side of business: paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork.

He continued to silently observe her for a few more seconds before he returned his attention to the screen before him. He was reviewing some of the projects the MIT students had already submitted to his R&D team, to choose a few examples that could be used to show the potentially immediate ROI of the funds the investors had agreed to contribute. Meanwhile, Pepper was reviewing the proposed budgets for said projects and was categorizing the expenses into the proper buckets for the final report. This was not work that was typically done by them – it was mostly just reviewed by them once it was all done by other people, but since they had been the ones up-close and personal with the entire team of investors, it made sense for them to simply do the work while still on the trip. It would be faster, easier, more accurate, and they would only have to check the numbers with themselves; even if his mind was half distracted with the problem Happy had brought up right before they had left Brasilia.

 _Can't catch a damn break!_

The sound of work extended for almost half an hour more before they both decided that they had done enough. They had to get back to their seats and get ready for landing, anyway, so it was best to stop working when it made sense for them rather than halfway through writing down a thought. Their meeting with Federico Robles was to take place only an hour after they arrived at Mexico City, which meant the best course of action was to give their brains and bodies time to rest before facing the music yet again. It was going to be a quick visit to stay within the six-week range of travel time, but they felt they owed it to their last investor to be as professional and alert as they had been with Piero.

Silently and almost mechanically so, both Tony and Pepper strapped themselves to their seats. As soon as they were both comfortable, Tony held Pepper's left hand in his right one, and then rested both of them on his right knee. Pepper made no comment on the move, and she simply turned her head to the right to stare out the small window of the jet. After a few more moments of silence, Tony squeezed Pepper's hand to get her attention, and then spoke in a soft tone of voice.

"The reservation at the _Per Se_ has been confirmed. Got the email this morning."

"Good," Pepper replied after a gulp, her eyes never leaving the window. "Thanks for doing that."

"Of course."

The words exchanged had been neutral and short – practically a casual conversation, yet they also felt heavy; their meaning loaded. Their last meeting at the _Per Se_ was still fresh in their minds – and they had just voluntarily signed up to experience more of that awkwardness in a few days' time. A promise was a promise, however; and the ginger had promised Tony that they would one day talk about anything and everything that had been left unsaid or implied.

"Do you have an agenda in mind?"

Tony's sudden question threw her for a loop. "Huh?"

"An agenda. For brunch at the _Per Se_."

Pepper pursed her lips and shook her head, allowing herself a moment to control her emotions and not let her voice quiver with her response.

"Just what we said we would talk about last time we were there."

"Nothing else?"

"Nothing else."

"OK."

Tony swallowed hard and then absentmindedly brushed his fingers against Pepper's hand as he thought about the upcoming meeting, a million questions fighting to come out about it, but he pushed them all down. As much as he was dying to hear what she had to say to him about their future, he knew that it was neither the time nor the place to get a preview of the conversation she wanted to have. Forcing the time and the place had previously led them nowhere, and pretty fucking fast, at that. He wanted to do this, so much – to finally have this conversation with her. But he also wanted to do it right, this time around. The right time included different requirements, one of which being the conversation taking place AFTER telling Pepper about the unexpected little issue they now had with the most obnoxious woman in the world.

He remained quiet for a few more minutes; his mind fighting with his mouth and his heart. Was this the last time he would hold her hand in his? Was making love to her this morning the last of it between them? Was this going to be the last civil conversation they would ever have? Would this be the last opportunity they would have to ride the jet in peace? Surely, the flight back to New York was going to be even tenser than this final portion of the trip was, just because they both knew that going home meant talking about what they had been skirting around for months.

Whatever the case, the next few days would be long and tedious – just as the beginning of their trip had felt. He had thought that they were way past that after everything they had been through, throughout the last six weeks together. Yet, here they were: acting as if they had never been as intimate and close to one another as they actually were.

There was not just one elephant in the room that needed acknowledgement. There were so many that Tony was sure the plane could have collapsed due to these imaginary animals being cramped inside the tiny space with them. Nevertheless, worrying about it now or bringing up the obvious was not going to get them anywhere but to the start of another argument they could postpone for a few more days.

Then again, not everything had to become a fight between them. They had both grown in their time apart. Their separation had, much to his chagrin, been the kick in the nuts that he had needed to start truly squaring away his life before he could claim he was ready to devote the rest of it to Pepper Potts. He was certain that he was not alone in this – he was almost one-hundred percent sure that Pepper's perceptions and beliefs had changed, too. Otherwise, she would have not wanted to talk to him about it again, in such an official manner, at that. If things were still the same for her, she would have saved the brunch option and would have just told him their split was a permanent one with no muss and no fuss.

Time away from each other was certainly not the way he would have preferred to get to know himself better, but it was the way it had happened and there was nothing else to be said or done about that fact.

What it all came down to at the moment, was having the realization that this exact point in time was not ideal to talk about what was next for them in terms of a possible romantic relationship or lack thereof, and how the latter would affect the rest of their professional and personal lives – including the shitstorm that would surely befall them on Independence Day. What it _was_ time for, though, was to make it clear to her that he was just happy as hell that she was around. Thrilled that she had stuck by him for these last six weeks in what could have easily been the road trip from hell, but that had ended up being anything but that. And, with only a few minutes of flight time before their landing and knowing that there would be a _referee_ _bell_ that would halt his overexplaining of his feelings for and to her, it did seem like the best time to share these thoughts with her.

 _For whatever it is worth._

"For what it's worth, Pep," he began, echoing the last words his mind had uttered, "I'm so grateful that you did this for me. With me. I know… I know you didn't like the idea of this trip, and that you didn't like what we had to do while on it, but you still did. And I… I'm just so very grateful that you did that."

The right corner of Pepper's mouth lifted even though he could not see her bittersweet smirk. She did not have to look at him to tell that his words were as honest and as from the heart as they could ever be – enclosed in such true appreciation and providing her with much more credit and respect than she believed she deserved of him after everything she had done to hurt him. What was done was done, however. Nothing would ever change that. Accepting his words for what they were was all there was for her to do right now.

"Of course, Tony. I told you I'd be there for you–"

"No matter what," he finished for her and smiled when she finally turned to face him.

"No matter what," she repeated with a curt nod.

"And I'll…" he forced himself to keep his eyes on hers, "I'll respect whatever your decision is in the end. I can't say I'll like it, but I'll respect it. This time, I promise that I will."

Pepper squeezed his hand and forced the smile to stay on her face. "I know, Tony. I know you will."

"No matter what," the inventor added as he returned the squeeze, just a second before their pilot announced that they had arrived.

xxxXXXxxx

 _"Talk to me, Hap," Tony whispered into his cell phone, taking advantage that Pepper was not currently in the room and that their investor in Brasilia was busy talking to her assistant._

 _ **"Oh, now you wanna talk? I've only been trying to do that for weeks!"**_

 _"Did you call to bitch or to tell me something important?"_

 _ **"You know what I'm calling about."**_

 _Tony groaned. "I told you, Happy. I'm telling her when we land in New York. After we talk to the Board. It's just a few days away, anyway. We'll be home before you know it. We'll get this shit squared out. This is just not the right time, OK?"_

 _ **"Well, it's gonna become the damn right time in about three fucking seconds, Tony. I came to your place to check up on things, and someone left a ticking timebomb at your doorstep. I have it in my hands right now."**_

 _Tony's eyes widened and he could barely contain the volume of his voice. He looked over his left shoulder to make sure that Leonor was still preoccupied assigning chores to her assistant and then returned his full attention to the phone._

" _A bomb, Happy? What the hell are you calling_ me _for? Call security! The Avengers! The FBI! S.H.I.E.L.D., for all I care! Get it out of my house!"_

 _Happy exhaled, not at all sounding as alarmed as Tony clearly was, and then mentally slapped himself at his poor choice of words._

" _ **No, Tony! Not an actual timebomb. It was a figure of speech. I meant someone left you something that's gonna blow up this shit all over your face. Before we hang up, probably."**_

 _Tony sighed in relief and rolled his eyes. Phone conversations with Harold Hogan were like having little heart attacks. He really did not need that many in his lifetime._

" _Damn you, Hap! You_ suck _at this. People like you are the reason messengers get shot. In fact, I'm sure that if we looked up the history of the phrase, we'd find a mugshot of your great-great-great-great Grandpa. On the ground. With a piece of paper in his hands. Shot."_

 _Happy rolled his eyes even though Tony was not in front of him. The unseen gesture would come out in his tone of voice, anyway, he was sure._

" _ **Yeah, yeah. I know. Whatever. Listen, you're gonna have to tell Pepper before you guys come back. Someone left you a post-dated, to-be-printed issue of**_ **Vanity Fair** _ **with a cover that reads:**_ _ **Exclusive news from the Stark Empire – The Stark-Potts wedding is a sham! Proof and details inside.**_ _ **"**_

 _"The Stark Empire," Tony nodded in obvious approval. "I like the sound of that. Think we can change the name of the company to that?"_

 _ **"Oh, for fuck's sake! Focus, Tony!"**_

 _"Right," Tony cleared his throat. "So, what does it say inside?"_

 _ **"Inside what?"**_

 _"The magazine! The ticking timebomb? God! Good thing it's NOT really a bomb, Hap. You'd be in bits and pieces right now, calling me from the afterlife, wondering how the hell you got there in the first place."_

 _ **"Shut up, asshole,"**_ _Happy grumbled as Tony heard what he could only assume were pages being turned. Tony practically held his breath while Happy mumbled random words as he read the article, only to then growl so loudly on the line that it made the genius briefly pull away the phone from his ear._

 _"So, what's the verdict?"_

 _ **"They know,"**_ _Happy sighed._ _ **"Someone at the courthouse sold out. They have copies of the documents I've been trying to send you so that you could sign them. They explain how everything is fake and illegal, and it also of course talks about shit that didn't even happen."**_

 _"Like what?"_

 _ **"Well, for one, it says that Pepper had a miscarriage and that the would-be baby was the only reason why you proposed. Woman hasn't even been pregnant, for God's sake!"**_

 _"Right," Tony cleared his throat as low as he could to not give Happy any ideas that hinted at the truth being otherwise. Technically, as far as the inventor knew, Pepper had never really been pregnant. They had had a scare or two, but nothing had made it past that. Unless, of course, the person that he already knew to be responsible for this phony article had been right on the money while grabbing at straws._

" _What else?"_

 _ **"Are we totally gonna go past the fact that you don't sound very convinced of Pepper not ever being pregnant?"**_

 _"What else, Happy?"_

 _ **"OK. So, we ARE totally gonna go past that. Alright. Uhm… it also swears that there is a pre-nuptial agreement that says that Pepper isn't gonna get squat from you unless she gives you a first-born son. What the hell? Why would you do that to her, Tony?"**_

 _"What?" Tony shook his head in disbelief. "The fuck you mean, Happy? I didn't do that shit! It's not real!"_

 _ **"Oh, yeah, sorry. Got carried away there. Uhm… they also say that the trip you're on right now is a marketing scheme to announce the fake marriage so that you can use the publicity stunt to get more money into Stark Industries because the company is broke. OK, that I know is total bullshit. The profits have never been higher."**_

 _"Don't even care about that. Is there anything else about me and Pepper? Or just Pepper? I know Christine Everhart has been dying to get back at Pep, somehow."_

 _ **"Christine… oh, shit!**_ **Vanity Fair** _ **. Oh, that bitch! Of course, it was her! Ugh! Why didn't I think about that? She must have stolen the documents from the court! If I ever see that woman again, I'm gonna–"**_

 _"Happy?"_

 _ **"What?"**_

 _"What else does it say?"_

 _ **"Oh, yeah. Right. Uhm… OK, there's something here about Pepper looking sick and old."**_

 _Tony scoffed, not for a single second believing that his redhead looked anything but desirable and hot. "Not everyone relies on botched Botox, Christine."_

 _ **"And it says that you're looking for a younger woman to have your heir in case Pepper can't give you one in a year."**_

 _"As if!"_

 _ **"And that if Pepper doesn't give you a baby boy, the fake marriage will be announced and annulled. And that you plan to blame her for it being fake."**_

 _"Are you serious? Are you reading_ Vanity Fair _or the script for a shitty soap opera?"_

 _ **"What's the difference?"**_ _Happy deadpanned._

 _"Good point."_

 _ **"Ugh! This is so stupid,"**_ _Happy lamented._ _ **"What do you want me to do, Boss?"**_

 _"Well, they probably left a note there somewhere, asking for what they want in exchange for not running the issue. Probably money."_

 _ **"Let me check."**_

 _Despite his nerves being shot, Tony waited patiently while Happy grumbled and frantically searched for anything he might have missed that could give them a clue as what to their next step should be to solve this problem. Tony had no doubt that the magazine would ask for money – a rather exorbitant amount of it, too; as he knew that they were in bad shape._ Vanity Fair _had been suffering for a while now due to a truckload of bad rep it had earned after the editors had badmouthed Tony Stark via a hastily-written and inflammatory article, a couple of years back. How the editors had thought that talking shit about a man who had helped saved the world was good publishing was beyond him. Nevertheless, here they were and here he was, still trying to clean up the mess that was the result of having a one-night stand with Christine Everhart._

 _"Anything?"_

 _ **"Still looking. Nothing stands out here, though. I don't see a ransom note or anything. Everything else is just junk mail."**_

 _"Mmhh," Tony scratched the back of his ear. "Maybe they'll tell me when we get back to the States. What's the date on the issue?"_

 _ **"It's next month's. July… 4**_ _ **th**_ _ **. July 4**_ _ **th**_ _ **, 2016."**_

 _"Independence Day, huh?"_

 _ **"Yup. Kinda ironic, I think. Or an attempt at being patriotic? Who knows? That woman is… just… oh…"**_

 _"Oh?" Tony raised both eyebrows at his friend's sudden change in tone. "What is it? What's_ oh _?"_

 _ **"I dropped something. Or, something fell of the magazine. I shook it. I… Shit."**_

 _"Shit? What's shit, Hap? What do they want? How much?"_

 _ **"Huh…"**_ _Happy said, the item that had just fallen off the magazine in his hand, and then sighed._ _ **"Yeah, I found it. I think."**_

 _"You think?"_

" _ **Yeah. Yeah, I did."**_

" _And? Damn it! Can you just tell me?! What does Christine want?"_

 _ **"Well, they don't want money, that's for sure."**_

 _"So?"_

 _ **"I could be wrong."**_

 _Tony rubbed his face with his free hand, wishing he could jump inside the cell phone to choke the news out of Happy. "Son of a bitch! Can you just TELL me? Pepper's gonna be back any minute! We're supposed to go back to the jet in twenty minutes!"_

 _ **"OK! OK! Just… I could be wrong, all right? Just keep that in mind."**_

 _"OK. I will. Now. What. Is. It?"_

 _ **"You,"**_ _Happy Hogan replied, not seeing any point in beating around the bush any longer._

 _"I, what?"_

 _ **"You, dumbass. She wants you."**_

 _"Do, what?"_

 _Happy groaned._ _ **"There's a picture of you here. Not on the pages, but its own individual print. It was loose inside it."**_

 _"Is it a recent picture?"_

 _ **"What difference does it make?"**_

 _"I don't know. Maybe, if it's recent, that could mean she just wants an interview? Just thinking aloud, Hap. Is it old or recent?"_

 _Happy hummed._ _ **"Old, I think. Your hair looks different. Longer. Slicked back. Your facial hair is also weird."**_

 _"Weird?"_

 _ **"You cut it differently now. You look… it kinda reminds me of… oh, wait… Huh… I think I know when this picture is from. Actually, I take it back. I totally know where you are in it."**_

 _"And where would that be?"_

 _ **"Caesar's Palace."**_

 _"Vegas?"_

 _ **"Yeah."**_

 _"What? She wants to gamble? For me to pay for her drinks or… oh… Wait… Oh, shit!"_

 _ **"Yup."**_

 _"Vegas."_

 _ **"Yes."**_

 _"Caesar's Palace."_

 _ **"Uh-huh."**_

 _"2008?"_

 _ **"Bingo!"**_

 _"She wants me to sleep with her?"_

 _ **"Well, now that I'm sitting down, reading this article while you take your time coming to the same conclusion I've had, there's a particular line towards the end that you're gonna be very interested in."**_

 _"What does it say?"_

 _Happy cleared his throat._ _ **"You know how this says that you want an heir and shit?"**_

 _"Yeah?"_

 _ **"And how you supposedly wanted a younger woman if Pepper couldn't deliver?"**_

 _"Uh-huh?"_

 _ **"It says that you have one already. A younger woman, I mean."**_

 _Tony groaned, the pieces to the puzzle coming together in his mind. "Let me guess…"_

 _ **"I'll give you three guesses, but you'll only need one."**_

 _"Christine Everhart," both men said in unison._

 _ **"Look how that turned out,"**_ _Happy shook his head._

 _"UGH! I can't… and she… ugh!"_

 _ **"That's quite the story she got here. She admits that you and she slept together that night. And she says that she spoke to Pepper the next morning."**_

 _"She did. To get kicked out."_

 _ **"According to this, Pepper told her that you had said you wanted to see her again. And that you've stayed in contact all these years."**_

 _"I don't even…" Tony sighed. "Does she really hate Pepper that much?"_

 _ **"I think she hates you both. But probably Pepper more, based on what I see here. She has some nice things to say about you. None about Pepper, though."**_

 _"Of course not."_

 _ **"Damn. This article is long. I'm on page two of fifteen."**_

 _"Figures. And you're sure that there's nothing else there to see? You sure there is no request for money? Hell, I'd give her my spleen right now."_

 _ **"I'm sure, Tony. She just wants you. It kinda makes sense. I mean, she can't really have you, but all this bullshit here will make Pepper look bad. Really bad."**_

 _"That's what Christine is after, for sure. I… I've done things I'm not proud of, but I don't care. Pepper, though…"_

 _ **"Smart woman,"**_ _Happy said begrudgingly._ _ **"Spin this story to hurt her by it, and then hurt you by hurting her. Talk about holding grudges."**_

 _"Yeah," Tony's shoulders deflated._

 _ **"So, what're we gonna do? And don't you say: wait. We've done enough of that. This will come out in a few days, and Christine has nothing to lose when it does. Pepper does."**_

 _Tony sighed and sat in a chair, the will to fight this endless parade of bullshit was almost depleted from his system. From all the horrible things that a one-night stand could have caused them, this was the most annoying of all, simply because it affected Pepper in ways he had never dreamed of. At this point, given the circumstances, he would have preferred finding out that he had an illegitimate child somewhere… unless it was with Christine Everhart. Never with Christine Everhart. Tony shuddered at the thought._

 _As he considered the situation further, the answer to the predicament appeared to be right in front of him. This problem was something he had caused, but it would affect his redhead more than it would affect him. Perhaps, the reason why he was unable to instantly come up with a viable solution was because he did not have as much at stake as Pepper did. And not because he did not care enough about her, but because he could not make himself decide even more things for the ginger. He had done enough of that already, and it had only come back to bite him in the ass._

 _It was clear now. Obvious, even, what he had to do. It was best, the only option to proceed with, that the person who would be at the forefront of the attacks to be the one to make the final call; and also for his part in this to be doing anything that he could to ease the job. They still had a couple more days of business deals, anyway, and that still left plenty of time to hash it out with Pepper._

 _It would be enough. It had to be enough._

 _"I'll ask Pepper," Tony finally replied with a hint of irritation; resigned._

 _Happy was taken aback._ _ **"Are you sure? I mean: that's the right thing to do and all, but that also means you're gonna have to tell her about the marriage papers, too."**_

 _"Not really. Or not completely. They could be passed as fake for now. She just needs to know what Christine is up to. Just that. Or maybe I will tell her. It's kinda of a moot point now… I don't know… We'll see. And, I have to go. Pepper's here."_

 _Happy groaned and then threw his arms in the air._ _ **"Fine! Whatever! I tried."**_

 _"You did great," Tony said with sincerity. "Thanks, Happy."_

 _ **"Yeah. Yeah. Bye."**_

xxxXXXxxx

Pepper smiled and nodded along at whatever their investor in Mexico City was talking about; the local food before her long gone. The topics of discussion sounded a lot like stuff she could not follow, anyway, so her current non-verbal responses were enough. His conversation was mostly aimed at Tony, and she was just fine with that. She probably would not be able to follow the chat, even if she wanted to, as her thoughts were elsewhere, anyway – in New York, counting the seconds until she came clean with Tony. And in Dr. Adler's office; wondering what the hell was so important that the woman had started calling her _work_ phone.

Just as it was the case yet again right now.

Pepper's gaze lowered as she silenced her vibrating phone in her hand with a press of her finger against the side button of it. She had five missed calls from the doctor, all made back-to-back and in the last hour or so. She also had ten unread e-mail messages in her work inbox, all from the doctor's office. Whatever it was that Dr. Adler had to tell her, it had to be huge.

Maybe, it was time to stop avoiding the facts.

The redhead's eyes lifted to stare at Tony and at Federico; the two men supremely engrossed in their conversation; too much so to notice what she felt was blatantly obvious on her face: nervousness and concern. They only had a few more hours to wrap up their meeting and they then would get in a plane to head back home. They were scheduled to arrive just a few short hours before the already planned board meeting, and then they would be free to go back to their regularly scheduled lives.

Technically, she did not _have_ to wait much longer to talk to Dr. Adler, but all the signs were pointing at her needing to speak to her sooner rather than later. Perhaps even before they left Mexico City. Maybe right about now.

Her phone began vibrating once more, but this time the indicator was for an incoming text message and not a phone call. Pepper inwardly sighed and forced herself to read the text under the table, all the while stealing glances at Tony to make sure that he did not notice her piling anxiety.

 _"Call me, Pepper. We have to talk."_

Well, that had been cryptic as shit. It reminded the redhead too much of the typical phrase spoken as the preamble to a breakup. Or any bad news, for that matter. Words she had spoken herself to others, in fact. They were as fun to say to others as they were to be told to oneself.

Before she could lose her guts, however, Pepper forced herself to reply.

 _"Is it an emergency?"_

Pepper wanted to slap herself at her rushed response. What kind of stupid question was that? Of course, it was an emergency! Short of the doctor flying to the redhead herself, she had done everything she had been able to do get ahold of her.

Dr. Adler, it seemed, had no qualms in pointing out the obvious to her.

 _"Have you seen how many times I've tried to call you? It's important, urgent and time-sensitive. PICK. UP!"_

Pepper bit her lower lip; her mind already concocting the worst-case scenario. Her heart skipped a beat, which made her hesitate for another long second as her fingers hovered over the keys before she finally started typing again.

 _"How urgent? Am I dying?"_

 _"No!"_

The immediate response made her sigh in relief, although the sound had also been loud enough for Tony and Federico to stop their chat and face her.

"Hey, Pep. You all right?" Tony asked, his eyes searching for what could have made his wife suddenly react this way. If he had not known her better, he would had assumed her long exhale had been due to boredom or exhaustion – perhaps even due to annoyance. However, he did know her better. Something had just startled her. Something big, it seemed.

"I'm fine," Pepper said with a smile, hoping that neither man picked up on her obvious lie. "Just Mom being dramatic. You know how she gets sometimes."

"Your mom?" Tony furrowed his brow. "Is she OK?"

Pepper waved her hand at him to shrug off his concern. "Yes. Just exaggerating. Everyone's fine. But I'm gonna call her right now, just to make sure. Is that OK?"

"Of course, babe," Tony said as he stood up to help her pull the chair away. "I'm sure Federico won't mind, either. Right?"

"Not at all," the man clarified, standing up along with Tony just because a lady was about to leave the table. The man was filled with old-school manners like that. They practically poured out of him. He was living proof that chivalry was certainly not dead. "I hope your loved ones are all right."

"They are. I'm sorry. I'll be back as soon as I can. Excuse me."

Without another word, Pepper all but fast-walked towards the lady's room, which happened to be empty, in a rare stroke of luck. Even if there were only two stalls, and they were both clearly empty, Pepper took a minute to look around herself and take a deep breath. The live music of the restaurant was blaring outside, which would help cover her conversation in here, but it was also muffled enough by the walls and the single door that it would not get in the way of the conversation she was about to have.

Her eyes landed on a small padded bench that had been placed against the opposite wall where she currently stood before she all but ran towards it. She gingerly took a seat on it, took in yet another deep breath, and then redialed the last number that had called her. It only rung twice before it was picked up, and the only greeting the redhead could muster was a loud clearing of her throat.

 _"Pepper, are you there? Or did you just butt-dial me?"_

"No, it's me," Pepper said, her lips suddenly feeling as dry as a bucket of sand. "It's me."

 _"OK. Are you in a private place? Are you sitting down? I need you to be sitting down."_

"Yeah. I am. Both things. Private. Sitting down. You…" Pepper gulped, her hands shaking more than they had ever done so in her entire life. "Can you just tell me what's going on? What couldn't wait until I got back home?"

Dr. Alder sighed, very much dreading the conversation she was about to have with her patient. Granted, the problem she was about to share with her was not entirely her professional fault, but it was atrocious enough that she would take the error to her grave on a much more personal level. Or to the courtroom, probably, depending on how the ginger reacted. Whichever happened first. Or both.

 _"There is no easy way to say this, Pepper, so I'm just going to give you the short version first and then explain it real slow, all right?"_

"All right."

 _"Your surgery was not a real success."_

"W-what? I mean… what?"

" _Your surgery was not a real success,"_ the doctor repeated, slower this time, all the while fearing that if her patient could not get past processing the initial statement, let alone understanding it, there was no point in explaining what she meant by it. Nevertheless, time was of the essence, so she had to try.

" _The surgery didn't do exactly what it was supposed to do. There was an issue with the paperwork. The surgery orders. An error made about what you requested to be done."_

"An error?"

 _An error? AN ERROR?!_

Pepper felt the blood rush to her feet at the single word that kept bouncing off the walls of her head; her brain taking its sweet time putting together what she was hearing and remembering who she was talking to. It was as if she had been suddenly put inside a large body of water, hundreds of feet deep, and every sound she could hear was muffled by the pressure of the dark pits she felt forced to be in.

An error. There had been an error with her paperwork. Something had been done to her during her surgery. Something she probably did not want. Something that was very likely not able to be undone.

The ginger breathed hard through her nose to ease the feeling of nausea that threatened to overpower her. The delicious food that she had enjoyed minutes ago wanted to come back out.

 _An error_ , she repeated to herself. What could be something that could be done to her other than what she had asked?

 _Maybe they didn't tie my tubes?_ The redhead pondered. _Maybe I'm not infertile after all._

Maybe, her brain mocked her, she had been having unprotected sex with Tony for weeks, thinking she could not get pregnant at all. She had told Tony that she was still on the pill, which was not true, and since they both knew the other to be clear from sexually transmitted diseases, they had not even bothered with condoms either. She had been on the shot for a while, and she was yet to have a regular period for months now, but she had been told that it would be irregular for a while – even more than usual. The stress of her daily life had already made her cycles as random as they could be. She had thought nothing of her period being overdue for several weeks now.

 _No,_ Pepper closed her eyes and shook her head. _No. NO!_

Could it be that she was pregnant? Could she be carrying Tony's child?

Could she, ironically, be in the same predicament she had thought she had avoided? Was she being given another chance to make things right?

Pepper gasped loudly as the realization hit her – as thoughts that had plagued many sleepless nights came crashing back to her. She _had_ regretted her decision for some time. She had hoped that she would wake up one day and she would not be infertile anymore. She had wondered what it would be like to be able to bear Tony a child. She had wanted it more and more once she had decided that she would leave up to Tony the choice to take her back. Because she wanted to work things out with him. She so wanted to be with him again and remain with him forever, if he could find it in himself to forgive her for what she had done.

She had planned to tell him this during their brunch at the _Per Se_. She had planned it all out in her head.

Now, however, if she were to be pregnant with his child, this would change everything yet again. This would make the decision unfair to him. What choice would the man have but to forgive his fake wife who was pregnant with his kid? What else would Tony Stark do other than to take responsibility for the consequences of his actions? Pepper was not concerned that Tony would not forgive her, if she was pregnant with his kid. What she did not want, however, was that child being the only reason that the genius tagged along.

She wanted to earn his forgiveness in a fair manner. She did not want the choice to be made for him by circumstance. He had earned as much. He deserved as much. If this relationship was going to work, and if they were to get back together and continue where they left off, they had to do so with their eyes and ears wide open, and with real choices placed before them. She did not want them to be a repeat of the failed marriages they had encountered during this trip. She wanted them to be as free of guilt and of a forced sense of responsibility when the time to decide presented itself.

Dr. Adler had remained quiet for several minutes now, allowing her patient to come to her senses before continuing her explanation of the situation. This was just the tip of the iceberg. The water and ice that lurked below the surface was much colder and deeper.

Once her mind gave her an opportunity, the redhead cleared her throat, signaling that she was somewhat ready for questioning the doctor's statement. She knew that no one would ever be completely ready for listening to one's doctor telling you something had gone wrong with a major procedure you had undergone. She might as well get it over with as quickly as she could.

Besides, Tony was still outside, waiting for her. Every minute she spent here would just make matters worse for him. And it would leave her with more things to explain that she was not sure that she could.

"So. There was an error. A clerical error, I guess? My tubes aren't tied, then, after all?"

" _Oh, no. They are. You're still infertile, Ms. Potts."_

Just like that, her world shifted again. Her hopes dissipated. Her heart broke. She was not pregnant. She could not get pregnant. She never would be again. Just like that, she had felt pregnant and had had an instant miscarriage, in half a second – or at least it had felt very much like that.

"Oh," it was all that Pepper could say, her voice full of disappointment.

" _He got that part right. The rest… not so much."_

"He?"

" _Dr. Klein. Remember him? He filled in for me for your surgery when one of my critical patients went into premature labor?"_

"Oh, yeah. I do. I…" Pepper gulped. "I was so drugged by then. It's kind of blurry, but I do remember you had to leave."

" _Well, that's why it happened. The other part of the surgery. If it had been me, Pepper, I swear I wouldn't have done this to you."_

"Dr. Adler, you're scaring me. Can you just tell me what he did? Do I need to have surgery again to fix whatever he did? Am I in danger?"

" _No. You don't need any more surgeries. You're healthy, otherwise. And I… I can't fix what he did. No one can. I'm so sorry, Pepper. What he did is irreversible."_

"What is it?"

Dr. Adler sighed. _"He… he removed your eggs. All of them. He took out your ovaries. You're never having a period again. No ovulation either. We… we need to get you in here to talk about how we're going to regulate your hormones and other related functions. About the side effects of what he did. He… he essentially rushed you to menopause. We need to put you on a permanent treatment for what the surgery broke. I… I'm so sorry. So, so sorry, Ms. Potts."_

If she had not already been sitting, Pepper would have landed on her ass on the floor. Quite abruptly and hard, too.

Menopause? Forced menopause? At her age? Long-term side effects? Medically regulated hormones? What the hell was happening to her?

"I'm sorry, Dr. Adler. Can you repeat that? Slower? And in other words?"

" _Of course,"_ the doctor began. _"I… Dr. Klein was given paperwork that said you'd asked for your ovaries to be removed. No one in the medical field and in their right mind would go for this, because we know the increased health risks losing your ovaries cause. But when people have money, they can ask for whatever they want, and someone will give it to them. Another patient had requested this, despite plenty of advice against it, and her paperwork got mixed with yours. The surgery codes got swapped during data entry. I didn't know that it had happened until we were going over the medical records when the insurance company asked for more information on the medical value of the surgery you got while they were doing their own internal audits. I made some phone calls. Talked to the medical staff. I didn't want to call you until I knew it had happened for sure."_

Pepper could hardly keep her hand from dropping her phone. She was trembling so much that she could have sworn that she was in the midst of a deadly earthquake. One that she almost wished would take her life right now, just so that she did not have to face Tony and her family anymore.

"So, what you're saying is that I'm, for all intents and purposes, a woman experiencing _the change_?"

Dr. Adler hummed her acceptance of Pepper's wording. It was, after all, the way older women referred to menopause. It was such a drastic milestone in a woman's life. It was, in fact, for many of them, the beginning of the decline of the quality of their lives. Some women found positive and productive ways to deal with the inevitability of the ending of their fertile age. Others, however, never found the best way to cope with it, and ended up alone and miserable until the last of their days. Divorces and separations were sometimes attributed to menopause, as if the women had any say in their biological clock and had purposefully set themselves up for failure because of it. It was not so widespread misunderstood anymore, but there were still people out there that refused to accept that the changes that a woman underwent after her periods stopped were outside of her control.

Dr. Adler closed her eyes briefly, recalling the reason why she had become an OB/GYN: losing her mother to the psychological effects of menopause. And losing her father to the myths of it.

For her part, Pepper could not believe Dr. Adler's words. She did not _want_ to believe her words. She was not just infertile. She was infertile, experiencing early menopause, and had had her health altered for the worst in one go. She knew what the doctor was trying to explain to her. She knew how serious this was at her age. She had seen friends and family members struggle with the aftereffects of hysterectomies or with removal of ovaries due to growths or tumorous masses. She knew the quality of her life would be greatly affected by this, promptly diminished, utterly devastated…

… _if_ she allowed it to be.

And, for fuck's sake, even right now, while having a difficult time accepting and processing the doctor's explanations, the redhead already knew that she did not want to allow it to be that way.

Hell, she was _not_ going to allow it to be that way. She could not. She had no reason to. And she had every reason and resource to make it work. To make it better for herself. To fight back.

Yes. This sucked and it was completely unexpected and irreversible, and she had pretty much done this to herself. But that did not mean that it was over. That her life was over. No one that cared for her would allow her to give up. And neither would she.

Dr. Adler was correct, in the end: people with money could get whatever they wanted. She could get the best care in the world. She would get the best care in the world. And she would _fight back_.

" _We can do this,"_ the doctor suddenly said, as if she had somehow read the redhead's mind.

Maybe she had. Dr. Adler was Pepper's OB/GYN for a very good reason, after all.

Pepper was not alone. She had family and friends that cared for her – that loved her. She had Tony and Rhodey and Happy. She had her parents and her siblings. She had Dr. Adler and whomever else came along to get her life back on track.

She was _not_ alone.

She had never been alone.

She was going to push back.

And she would start by telling Tony the truth. All of it. Not holding anything back.

Yet, for now, for the next day or so, she had to pull herself together, put on the business mask and get back in the game. The right time would come.

"Thank you, Dr. Adler," the redhead finally said after an extensive pause, her tone of voice filled with more conviction than she thought she had in her. "I will call you back."

" _And I'll be waiting, Pepper. I'm here for you, no matter what."_

Pepper smiled at the familiar, almost prophetic words before saying goodbye to the doctor and ending the call.

Suddenly, telling Tony about her situation was not so bad. Not so bad at all.

* * *

 **A/N:** I know I just broke a LOT of hearts, but I did promise a happy ending. And I will deliver… I WILL DELIVER! Final chapter is next!


	18. Chapter 17: New York

**Guest Review Responses**

 **MarieLecter: Oh dear... You totally broke me! Tell me that Tony will find a way to "repair" Pepper! *faint* I can't believe it's nearly the end... does it really have to end? Anyway! Great work!** – I'm sorry! But I will put you back together. Not with this chapter so much, but definitely with the Epilogue.

 **Guest: MY HEART. IT IS BROKEN. I thought she could have her tubes untied and everything would be okay. I mean, I know adoption is an option and all. But TEARS ARE BEING HAD RIGHT NOW. I trust you to deliver a happy ending so I will patiently wait. Please don't send me to an early grave with a heart attack.** – There will be a happy ending… but this is not it. There's no sequel, though, so the happy ending will be in the Epilogue :D

 **Guest: Qué clase de ser humamo eres que juegas así con mis sentimientos.. Que clase? Dios estoy intrigada por como vas a darnos un happy end.. –** ¡Lo siento! ¡Soy de lo peor! O, como dice mi mama: no soy una niña normal :P Prometo que para el final, todo estará bien.

* * *

 **Chapter 17: New York**

Pepper could not believe it, even with the magazine in her hands. Well, she _could_. She did; but she was still in awe at the lengths that the insufferable woman would go for attention. For fame. For money. Or for whatever the hell she thought she was going to gain from this.

 _A lot of problems. That's all that the bitch is getting_.

The meeting with the Board Members had gone great, and their trip was now officially over. Yet, not even three minutes into the board room being emptied after everyone had been dismissed, save for her and for Tony, and exaggerated pats on the back had been exchanged, the inventor had dropped a bombshell on her.

" _We have a problem,"_ he had told her. _"I need you to sit down."_

Her hands had shaken as he had given her the short version of the issue. At first, her whole body had trembled with nerves, not having a clue as to what Tony had wanted to talk to her about and fearing that Dr. Adler had reached out to him about her health issues before they had spoken while still in Mexico City. Then, as she listened to the genius tell her about the post-dated magazine that had been left at his home, and the condensed version of what Christine Everhart had done and had asked in return for her silence, Pepper's body shook even more than before. This time, however, she had shaken in pure and unbridled anger.

How dared the desperate woman try to do this to them?

Pepper eyed the publication with disdain, her fingers tapping the executive desk at her former office in Stark Tower while she waited for their lawyer to show up. They had decided to let _Vanity Fair_ run the issue, just as it had been sent to them. They would just prepare to sue the editor for all he was worth, and Christine Everhart, too, while they were at it, once the printing became public. It was the best way to set an example to anyone in the future who thought blackmailing them was as easy as publishing an article that was filled with partial lies. Or unfinished truths, depending on who read it and what they knew. She herself had not been able to get past the miscarriage section of the article, and that had only been the start of it.

The redhead sighed and eyed the clock. Their lawyer would not be here for another half hour, and Tony was out and about, telling Christine Everhart in person just where she could put that magazine along with that demand of hers. Pepper had wanted to do that part herself, but Tony had told her he would handle her. He had insisted that there was no need to bring her further into the mess that he had helped cause. The last thing he wanted was for Christine and Pepper to be in the same room. They could leave that for the courtroom, he had pointed out. As far as Pepper was concerned now, that suited her just fine.

She _would_ be forced to face Christine at some point during the lawsuit, that much was true. Might as well do so only when there was no choice or a way out.

 _And with witnesses… plenty of them. Because that woman loves to lie!_

Then again, Christine Everhart had not lied about the miscarriage. She had made an educated guess and she had happened to hit the mark. It was not uncommon for a woman to miscarry, even if it was not common knowledge. It was actually more common to miscarry than to give birth. Biology worked like a bitch sometimes. Or every time, depending on who was at the receiving end of its wrath.

As much as she hated to admit it, Pepper Potts and biology were not the best of friends. They were not even frenemies. They were just archenemies, destined to fight one another for the rest of their lives. Biology would eventually have the big win, as it would in every case for any living thing, when the redhead ceased to exist. Yet, while she could still do something about it, while she could still give it a run for its money, the ginger was ready to give biology all the fight she had to give.

Pepper sighed loudly yet again at the thought, her eyes scanning the room, memories of her experiences here against biology hitting her like a ton of bricks. Maybe Tony was on the right path by wanting to sell this place. It was cursed, for all she knew. Cursed with bad vibes and full of heartache. Maybe dropping a bomb on top of it was better than selling it. She did not want to pass on the cursed place to someone else.

 _Or maybe, I'm the one that's cursed_ , the redhead mused, her fingers twitching, a small part of her wanting to finish reading the article in its entirety. She knew that she would have to read it at some point, perhaps once the lawyer made it to the office so that they could start preparing the case. But she could not make herself do so right now… as much as she could not make herself _not_ do so either.

"Ugh!"

Pepper groaned and stood up and away from the desk. Maybe putting some distance between herself and the magazine would help. Maybe thinking about how well the Board meeting had gone would make her feel better. Maybe trying to figure out what inventions Tony had left behind on the table by the corner of the office would distract her. Maybe she should just call Mark, their lawyer, right now and tell him that she would rather meet with him after she spoke to Tony at the _Per Se_.

Yes.

That sounded like a great idea, in fact.

She would need all the energy in the world to get through that article, anyway. Might as well start saving it now.

After a resigned sigh, Pepper pulled out her phone from her pocket. She unlocked it and held it in her hand for a second, her thumb ready to press the button that would pull up her contact list, when the vibrating of the device scared the life out of her. She nearly dropped the whole damned thing on the floor before she was able to control her jittering and then slid her thumb across the screen to answer the call.

It was Tony.

" _Is Mark there?"_

"Nope. Not yet. Why?"

" _Can you send him over here instead? Christine is making this more difficult than I thought. I think I'm gonna need some witnesses."_

"For what? What did she do?"

" _Oh, nothing unexpected. She just, you know, opened her door, told me she was expecting me, and then cracked her whip."_

"Her whip?"

" _Yeah, her whip. Oh, yeah! Did I mention that she's wearing only a thong and heels?"_

"WHAT?"

" _Yup. I'm gonna need Mark. And chlorine poured over my eyes. Send him, please?"_

"Of course. Let me call him."

" _Thanks, babe. Bye."_

"Bye."

The incredulous look on Pepper's face was a poor show of how she really felt as she processed Tony's words – as she tried to picture the image of what the billionaire had described to her. Of all things! How could this woman be so out of her mind to think that it was OK to wait for Tony to show up at her doorstep only to try to entice him after he had already rejected her so many times? That took a special kind of neediness and an air of self-importance that rivaled Tony's old ways. What the hell was the matter with Christine?

"Let's not pull at that thread," the redhead mumbled as she speed-dialed Mark's number. The lawyer answered halfway through the first ring, apologetic words already coming out of his mouth about not making it to their meeting, even if he was not even late to it yet, when Pepper interrupted him to relay to him the new development she had just learned about.

" _A whip and a thong? In the middle of the day? You don't say."_

"I wish I didn't have to."

" _Wow!"_ Mark groaned before a ridiculous thought crossed his mind. _"I hope this case is not dismissed before heading to court by her plea being too insane to stand trial."_

"She fits the bill, I think."

" _She wouldn't. Legally speaking, that is. But they could try. She's gonna be in real hot water once this issue comes out. Even if she were able to use it to get out of the criminal lawsuit, you'll still get her once we move on to civil."_

"And she can definitely make a great case for the insanity plea," Pepper rolled her eyes. "Anyway, can you go help Tony instead? I'm sending you the address right now. We can reschedule our meeting."

" _Sure thing, Ms. Potts – I mean: Mrs. Stark. Sorry. Still getting used to that."_

Pepper scoffed before remembering that, even though their business trip was over, there was still a part to play for a few more days or weeks while she and Tony got things sorted out about where they would go from here.

"Join the club. We had gifts at the office this morning. And some complaints about being cheated out of the big event."

Mark laughed, his vehicle already heading towards Christine Everhart's home.

" _We'll get over it. I hope you like the gift my wife and I sent you, though. And since I don't get to see you after all today, let me just go ahead and say: congratulations on the wedding! Janice and I were rooting for you two from the start."_

"Thank you," Pepper replied, knowing that short and sweet answers were best for now. Her eyes still fell to stare at the wedding rings she was yet to remove from her finger, and her thumb rolled them over from side to side in a nervous tick that she had developed as soon as the rings had made themselves comfortable in her hand.

" _OK. I gotta go. Traffic's picking up. See you later, Mrs. Stark."_

"See you later, Mark," the redhead replied, almost absentmindedly, before she heard the click that signaled the end of the call.

Her gaze was glued to the rings for a few more seconds as she returned her phone to her pocket, while memories of the events that had led the family heirloom to end up around her finger were slowly coming to her. From the conversation she and Tony had had about selling the tower to prepare for a potential future family, to the day that he had proposed to her and she had declined, and then finally to the moment he had slid the rings on her fingers after he had blurted out the lies about them being married to Raul Contreras. All of it – all of the steps taken to get here – were so weird and convoluted; not a normal or straight path in the slightest. They were nothing at all like the simple life she had thought she would have when she had been young and naïve. Innocent and carefree. So, so, so unprepared for the real world.

Then again, it was not as if she regretted the life she had chosen for herself. It did, however, leave her wondering about what her life would have been if she had made different choices. Like choosing to not go under the knife to solve a problem she had thought she had. Or choosing to decline Tony's marriage proposal. Or choosing to lie to him about why she had declined.

Choices. _Different_ choices. Every choice could have led her to a different path.

As she lowered her hand, her fingers brushed against a familiar pair of glasses set on the corner table where Tony tinkered with his inventions when he was bored. The ridiculous name of his costly mental therapy aide made her giggle and then groan, once she remembered that he had announced during the Board meeting of this morning that he was considering changing the name of his prized possession to something that spelled HURL.

" _Why do you insist on naming this item something related to the same bodily function, Mr. Stark?"_ one of the Board members had asked.

" _Because that is what it does,"_ Tony had deadpanned his response. _"It's a way for the mind to spit out the bad things that are making it sick. Poetic, isn't it?"_

There had not been much room or will to debate that.

Technically, he had not been wrong. Practically, she was not sure if the damned thing did do its job.

With a shrug and small pout, Pepper grabbed the glasses and dropped them on her nose. She adjusted them and blinked rapidly while the operating system read her retinas and then made a connection with her brain. She had expected to feel some pain or at least a tingly sensation while it happened, but she hardly felt anything new or different. Once the screen told her the invention was ready to work as intended, Pepper's eyes landed on the television screen set against the wall. She had not meant to bring up anything specific – she had just wanted to look at something other than a bare wall. Yet, the second her eyes fixated on the television, the device came to life.

And so did the memory the glasses were helping her project.

Her breath hitched in her throat and her hands curled up on her chest when she realized what she was looking at. The memory was not of her alone. And it was not a random one either.

Bambi and Happy were there too, watching with her as the battle in Sokovia rolled on the screen. This time, however, the ground did not lift from the earth. Tony did not have to have a city fall on him. And she was not holding back lower belly pain behind Bambi and Happy as they all watched the development of Ultron's plan to wipe out civilization.

No. There was none of that. All she saw was a flicker of the television screen when the worst was to come. Instead of her heart beating out of her chest at the thought that Tony was dead, what she felt was relief at seeing his face on television – a little worse for wear, but still alive and sharing the good news with the world via the newsfeed. The battle was done and won. The Avengers had done it again. And: _Honey, I'm gonna be late coming home tonight_ , had been said by him to the screen.

As quickly as the memory had appeared, it went away, leaving behind a never-turned-on-and-yet-turned-off television and an empty room yet again.

Before she could stop herself, her entire body turned, and she focused on the executive desk, expecting to see the fucking magazine mocking her. However, the glasses went to work, and instead of the empty space that should have been there, she saw herself sorting through dozens of papers. Piles of them – all burying the desk like a landfill. As she got closer to the projection, she realized what she was staring at: the moment she had come to the office, the morning of the MIT speech, and she had found Tony's will.

Except, instead of breaking down crying and then rushing out the door, an image of Tony came into view. He walked up to her, kissed her on the forehead, and then grimaced at the obvious mess she was trying to clear.

" _Sorry, Honey, I thought I'd cleaned this up."_

" _Sure, you did."_

" _I did! Promise!"_

" _Right,"_ holographic Pepper said before she handed Tony a load of papers. _"The will looks OK, writing-wise, but I don't know if you want to file it as it is. You're giving up a lot of your rights there, Tony."_

Holographic Tony shrugged. _"I think I already did that the moment I proposed and you said_ _ **yes**_ _. Haven't you heard, Pep? A man's life is over once he gets hitched."_

Holographic Pepper rolled her eyes. _"We can always cancel this whole thing, you know? It's not too late. I did see you have quite the contract with the wedding vendors."_

" _Damn it!"_ Holographic Tony threw his arms in the air. _"I thought I'd hidden those receipts! Now you know where we're going for our honeymoon!"_

" _And that you were so sure I was gonna say yes. Very humble of you, Mr. Stark."_

" _Humble is my middle name. Thanks for noticing, Future Mrs. Stark."_

The not-quite-memory dissipated as swiftly as the previous one had, leaving Pepper wanting more of this; wanting to see more of what could have been. Wanting to see the replaying of the memories in a different way would not change anything that had already been done or had not been said, but it did leave her feeling lighter somehow. Perhaps, her next memory should be recreating the phone call she had had with Dr. Adler about scheduling her surgery and ending up cancelling it after all. Or maybe, it should be about her learning that her reproductive system had NOT been killed, unbeknownst to her.

She was not sure how powerful this little device was, but maybe – just _maybe_ , she could see what their son or daughter could have looked like.

With that thought in mind, and not sure how the glasses chose what memories to project, or the difference between memory and fantasy for that matter, Pepper stared at the trashcan by the entrance of the room. A second later, the projection appeared before her, making her watch herself stand by the container, her eyes glued to the cover of it as she slowly removed it from the can. Her heart began racing and her palms started to sweat, instantly identifying the moment she was looking at. It was somehow in reverse, however, because her hologram was taking the familiar gift bag _out_ of the trash instead of putting it in.

Tears began falling down her cheeks as she wished with all her being that this had been the way things had gone for her. Especially when her holographic self took out the tiny onesie from the bag, held it in her hands, smiled, and then spoke the words that the ginger would never be able to utter herself.

" _Tony: I'm pregnant."_

"You're pregnant?"

The male voice made her look away from herself and towards the open door of the office to see a wide-eyed, mouth-gaped Tony Stark staring back at her. She remained silent as he closed the door behind him, locked it, and he then ran his hand down his goatee in nervousness.

"You're pregnant, Pep? You… you're pregnant?"

The redhead blinked twice and tilted her head to the side in confusion, only to then realize that the Tony she was looking at was not part of the projection – it was very much real. In fact, the projection had dissipated the moment she had been distracted by his voice. The glasses were not even operating anymore. A bolded message that read: SEQUENCE ENDED was blinking on the screen.

As the reality of what had just happened started to dawn on her, the inventor briefly stared at the trashcan before he all but ripped the cover from it to dig inside, his eyes wild and his breath ragged until he remembered that she was wearing the HURL. That what he had just seen was a recreation of a memory of hers, and not something that was happening in real-time.

The realization did not placate his adrenaline in the least, however. In fact, he was sure that it just made it worse and he felt as if he was about to use the trashcan to throw up. Instead, he pulled himself together, as much as he could in half a second, swallowed hard, and turned to face her standing form, so far away from him, both in body and soul.

"Pep?" he pleaded with her, unable to repeat the question for a fourth time.

With a long, shuddering sigh, Pepper took off the glasses and carefully returned them to the table. Her nose and eyes were already too red for his liking, giving him a glimpse of what he suspected was to come – something that he had not even considered could happen while he had taken a shortcut back to work by flying back to the premises in his suit. When Mark had called him and had told him that it was best that the inventor was not present when the attorney relayed the company's stance on the publishing of the magazine to Christine Everhart, Tony had been relieved to get back to the office and to Pepper. What he had not anticipated, though, was walking in on her using the retro framing device on herself, let alone doing so for a life-altering memory that would be on display for him to see.

"Are you?" Tony's voice was so low, tentative – it even sounded scared. She had heard it clearly only because they were the only two people in the room. She decided to reply as honestly as possible, because it was the right thing to do. And because she owed him that much.

"I'm not. But I was."

Tony took a small step towards her. "You _were_?"

The ginger nodded. "Yes. Twice. Lost it. Both times."

"With… me?"

The moment the question left his lips, Tony wanted to shoot himself at how it had sounded, and his flinching said it all. Infidelity on her part was not something he had tried to imply. Thankfully, Pepper did not seem at all shaken by his inquiry, perhaps understanding what he had meant by it instead.

"I mean, of course with me but…" his left hand dug into his pants' pocket, while his right hand gestured between them. "When?"

Looking at the floor, Pepper replied.

"The first time was when aliens fell from the skies. The second… when a large part of a city did."

When Pepper lifted her head to face him again, he had cut the distance between them in half. They were both silent for a long moment until, after hanging his head and shoving his right hand in his pocket to hide his trembling fists, Tony spoke again.

"Was it… was it natural or… did you want to… did you… was it your choice, each time?"

Pepper took in a deep breath.

"The first time, I found out after it was over. _Because_ it was over. The second… the second…"

"The trash."

Pepper nodded and took a step towards him. "Yeah. The trash."

Silence extended again – this time longer than before, until Tony was able to somewhat control the quiver in his voice.

"Was it… was it me?" he spared her a glance before he hung his head again. "Was it… my fault?"

"My body wasn't ready for it. Wasn't ready to keep it."

"Don't bullshit me!" the snap in his tone made her visibly flinch because it had been unexpected, but she knew that he was not angry at _her_. Not per se. "Rogers tried to candy-coat the bad news to soften the blow for me, and that is not what I need and certainly not from you of all people, Pep! You know what I'm asking. Did I do this to you?" his eyes were now locked with hers, pleading with her to tell him the truth. "Did I cause the end of them? Is that why you didn't want to… with me… Was that it?"

Well, that did not take long for him to piece together. He was a genius, after all.

"Dr. Adler told me that my lifestyle is not conducive to successful pregnancies. She told me that I would have to make a lot of changes before I could even consider starting a family."

"With me," Tony added humorlessly without missing a beat as his right arm shot up to the ceiling. "Starting a family with _me_ is not a thing because I fucking fly into wormholes with a nuke on my back!"

"No," Pepper reduced the distance between them just a tad more as she spoke, the words tumbling out of her mouth as easily as they had been repeated in her head many times over in preparation for their meeting at the _Per Se_. "Starting a family with you is not a thing because I was stupid and selfish, and because I didn't tell you how I felt. Because I didn't tell you what I was going through. I didn't ask you for help."

"Pepper–"

"No! Let me finish!" she swallowed down a sob. "I didn't tell you what I needed. I didn't push you to see it. You didn't know. I didn't know how to ask for it. I was _scared_ to ask for it, and you didn't know what you needed to do. Starting… starting a family with you is not a thing… it-it… it will never be a thing… because I made it so."

Tony narrowed his eyes in confusion, his anger at himself forgotten for a moment.

"What? Wait, I thought… you said that they ended naturally, right? Or… did I misunderstand?"

"No, you didn't misunderstand. What I meant to say was that, after that second time… after knowing what I'd lost. After making up my mind on how I was going to tell you," she pointed towards the trashcan again. "Knowing how hard it was going to be. Knowing how much things had to change… I chose not to go through with it again. I chose… I chose to make it so that I couldn't get pregnant again. So that I _can't_ get pregnant again. And I succeeded."

Tony's body froze at the confession. "You… succeeded?"

"I did."

Tony's gaze slowly lowered to her belly and then returned to her face.

"You…" Tony's hands began to shake even more. "You _sterilized_ yourself?

"Yes."

"You did?"

"Yes."

"When?' his voice began to raise again. "Was it before or after I got down on one knee and asked you to marry me?"

"Before."

"Before?"

"Yeah."

"Before?!"

"Yes."

"How _before_?"

"What?"

"How _long_ before?"

"Uhm… a few days… a week or two, maybe?"

"A week. Or two."

This time, the redhead simply shrugged, hugged herself, and then nodded her reply, unable to look at him as he took a few steps back and away from her as if she were ridden with a disease that was sure to kill anything within range. He directed his eyes towards the trashcan, the memory of the projection that had placed her near it leaving him cold to the bone. He was not sure what to say first – what to think first. He had no idea how to react to what was happening right now. In the span of a few minutes, he had learned so many important aspects of his life that had been kept from him for years. Situations and repercussions of them that no one should have had to deal with alone. Things that were all so crucial and life-altering that he had no clue which one to tackle first. So much to say and so much more to learn. So many ways to handle this in the best of ways, and yet, all his brain could silently repeat over and over again towards her was: _how could you?_

He half-turned and his gaze then ended on the issue of _Vanity Fair_ that was sure to air their dirty laundry to the world. How much of it was true made his stomach churn. Pepper _had_ been pregnant. She _had_ lost the baby… _babies_. Their marriage _was_ a sham. Hell. Their entire relationship seemed to be as much of a sham, too – their foundation built on lies.

Lies. Lies all around. His lies and hers.

He was as guilty as she was. He had no right to judge her as harshly as his mind was currently having no problem doing. Screaming and pointing fingers would lead them nowhere. Nowhere. And yet…

 _Yet…_

"So… let me get this straight," the inventor began pacing the room as he spoke, conflicting emotions within him all fighting for dominance. "You got pregnant, with my child, not once, but TWICE! _TWICE!_ And you didn't tell me. And then, you… you miscarried both times, and you DIDN'T tell ME? AND THEN! If that wasn't enough, you got your tubes tied or whatever, and didn't bother to give me a heads up or talk to me about it before you did it… and _then_ you broke up with me because I _LIED_ to you? But you… YOU LIED TO _ME_ ABOUT ALL THAT?!"

Pepper opened her mouth to respond, but she had nothing to say to that.

"WHAT THE FUCK, PEPPER?!"

What the fuck, indeed.

Tony shook his head from side to side, his legs refusing to stop their pacing back and forth.

"You…" he scoffed. It seemed anger had the wheel now. "I can't believe you kept that to yourself. Something so… so…" he shook his head again. "Pregnant, Pepper? Pregnant?! What in the hell were you thinking?"

"I panicked, all right?" the ginger finally spat. She knew that she had no leg to stand on, but it was human nature to defend oneself. "I wasn't thinking straight! I… What was I supposed to tell you? _Hey, Tony! How's breakfast? Oh, by the way, I'm pregnant with your child_?!"

"Was it really that hard?"

"I don't know, you tell me. Was it a picnic to you when we had that scare and you thought I was pregnant? You sure were relieved that I wasn't!"

"But now you know why! We talked about it, remember? You know I was just scared to be a shit father like mine was! I was scared that I would put my family in danger. My kids. I can't even protect you sometimes!"

"I know that! I know…" Pepper closed her eyes, some of her defensiveness going away as she recalled the conversation they had had about the subject during their business trip. "I know."

"I just… I just can't believe you would lie to me about something like that. For so long. Do you know… do you even _know_ how much that hurt me? How many nights I've stayed up, thinking I was the sole reason you were so unhappy with me to the point of breaking up? Do you even understand what this breakup did to me?"

"I did. I do. I… why do you think I couldn't make myself come back to you during our break? You… you weren't the only one dealing with your inner demons, Tony. With guilt. If… if it wasn't for this trip. If we hadn't been thrown together like this again… I don't think I would've found the guts to face you again. To own up to what I did to you. But I did. I do now. I think I do understand."

Tony scoffed. "You _think_ you understand? Do you even have any idea to the lengths I've gone to get you back? And, for what? To find out that you were as much of a liar as I was? To find out that we could have… that you were… and that now we'll never… never… and to find out like this? By chance?"

"You were going to find out. I was going to tell you. At the _Per Se_."

"Hold up. You were going to tell me about this while we ate? Did you hope I would choke on my food because of it?"

"Of course not, Tony! Don't be ridiculous."

"Ridiculous? What's ridiculous is that I've been beating myself up for ruining your life, but it turns out it wasn't all my fault."

"Yes, I know! I know I made a huge mistake, all right? I'm not expecting your forgiveness. I don't expect you to understand or not hate me for it. I don't… I don't even expect you to ever talk to me again after this. To love me after this. I… I'm ready to face the consequences. I know what I did."

"To not love you after this," Tony shook his head and then rubbed his face with his hands. Disappointment was pushing anger out of the passenger seat. "How can you even think that? You really don't know me."

"I guess I don't," the redhead agreed. "That's part of the reason I did all of this. I thought I knew what you would do if you found out that the stress of watching you and your hero antics caused my miscarriages. I thought it would break you. I thought the guilt would eat you up and destroy you. But I was wrong. I was so wrong. You… you're stronger than that. I know that now. Stronger than I gave you credit for. You sometimes carry us both. You had the right to know."

"I _had_ the right to know."

"You did. You did."

Tony nodded along with her response, feeling somewhat vindicated that she at least admitted that his feelings in the matter were as important as hers. In the end, it was her body and the decision to what she wanted to use it for was her choice. Nevertheless, they had been in this together. They had made those babies together. He had as much as right to at least weigh in to what they would do as she did.

"But it was me," the man asked after a pause. "Wasn't it?"

"What?"

"It was me," the genius slowly walked up to her, as if he were afraid she would reject him or startle her if he moved too fast, and then tentatively placed his palm on her lower belly. "It was me. You just said… it was my fault, right?"

"Tony–"

"I mean… I didn't pull a trigger or anything but, I didn't make it easier on you either, right? I didn't give you the peace that you needed?"

She placed her hand on his, over her belly. "You didn't know."

"I don't know if that would've made much of a difference," Tony spat and pulled his hand away from her to wipe at his face. "I knew you hated me being Iron Man. And I still big fat did it, anyway."

"That's different."

"You didn't think it was. Or you wouldn't have broken up with me. You would have told me about it. About them. You would've let me carry it with you."

Pepper shrugged and hugged herself again, watching the man she loved pull away from her again. "Maybe. Maybe not. It was different then."

"Yeah. It was different. I thought we had something we didn't. I thought we were honest with each other. But we were both lying our asses off. Probably still are. I know we still are."

Tony dragged himself towards the guest chair at the executive desk and plopped down in it. He hunched over, his elbows resting on his knees. He covered his face with his hands, groaned loudly into them, and then slid them down is cheeks until his hands were limp on his thighs. His eyes could not leave the floor between his feet, a million thoughts wanting to be the one that took ownership of his mind.

The silence between them was deafening. Overwhelming. It burned their skin. It threatened to pull all the oxygen from their lungs. It felt like being trapped in a submarine that was plummeting to the furthest depths of the ocean. The pressure was almost unbearable. The emotions at an all-time high. Part of him wanted to tell her to go to hell and walk away from her life forever. The other part wanted him to remember the thinking he had done while on their trip. It wanted for him to rationalize this – see it from her perspective – even if she had made no effort to do that for him before. This was not about getting even, he knew. They were past that childish need. This was about coming clean with one another. This was about being honest and telling the truth.

In fact, he still did have _one_ more thing to tell her that she was not aware of. This time, however, he was going to make sure that she went first.

"Is that it?" he began, his eyes briefly looking towards her, a small hint of reproach in his tone of voice despite his attempts to remain calm. "Anything else I should know?"

"I… I'm not sure. Maybe?"

"Maybe?" he snarled. "I'm not looking for a _maybe_ , Pepper. I'm looking for a _yes_ or for a _no_. Just like when I asked you to…" he shook his head to calm himself and placed his right hand on top of his left one, feeling as if his wedding ring was ready to jump off of his finger on its own.

"Tony?" Pepper asked, her voice cracking and tears bursting from the corners of her eyes at seeing him pull further and further away from her.

"This," he pointed a single finger towards the floor. "This is your chance to get whatever you need off your chest, Pepper. This is your _only_ chance to do that."

Pepper's right hand landed on her chest, the knot that was already there growing even bigger than before. "What do you mean _my only chance_?"

Tony closed his eyes. He could not face her while he said the next words. He knew how they would sound to her ears. He knew that they would hurt her. But he had reached the end of his rope. It was now or never. All or nothing. All in or all out.

Go big or go home.

"I'm done playing this game with you. I… I'm tired. So tired. I need to know everything. Tell me everything you want to tell me. Don't hold anything back anymore. And then, I have questions of my own, and one last confession to make to you. And that is it. That will be it for this conversation. We're not meeting at the _Per Se_. There's no need for it. You told me that all you wanted to talk about was this, so your chance is now. I'm not dragging this anymore, Pepper. I just want to get it out there and move on."

"Move on? Move on how?"

Tony shrugged, unsure of what the correct answer was. He was not certain himself. "In whatever way makes sense."

"So, what you're telling me is that… that you don't want to get back together? That, no matter what I say, you've made your choice?"

"I'm saying that you need to tell me the truth, Pepper. All of it. Right now, before I walk out that door."

An ultimatum. Just like the many she had placed before his feet, now laid at hers.

This was what she had wanted, however, was it not? She had wanted a chance to make things right with him and be honest. She had just thought she had more time. Even if it was just one more day. As it turned out, like a lot of things in her life, she did not have more time.

Before the panic took over her completely – before she could walk out the door herself in a bout of anxiety, Pepper Potts walked up to the man she loved, kneeled before him between his legs, and held his face in her hands.

"I was scared," she began, tears running down her face. "The first time I found out that I had been pregnant, I got scared. It was stupid to get scared afterwards, but I still did. I'd never been pregnant. I'd never been with anyone long enough for that to happen. I hadn't even thought about it that much. And I was sad. So sad that I had lost something that I didn't even know I had."

Pepper sniffled a few times, brushed her thumbs on his cheeks, and then continued her confession to him.

"And then, the second time, I wanted it. I was scared again. Hadn't expected for it to happen one more time. I was scared of how you would react when I told you, but I wanted it. I… I was freaking out for days – weeks. I Googled ways to tell you about it. I… what you saw… what you saw me take out of the trash… it was an Iron Man onesie. It was, it IS totally violating Iron Man trademark and copyright laws but… but it was _so_ cute."

They both chuckled at her words and he lifted his hands to press them against where hers were on his face. He did not want her to let go of him. He wanted her to keep talking to him – to continue being open with him. He wanted to keep the connection. He wanted to feel his skin against hers.

"I had an appointment scheduled with Dr. Adler for an ultrasound. I was going to make you go there without knowing what the hell was happening, and I was going to show you. Then I was going to give you the gift. And I was going to hold my breath and hope that Dr. Adler wanted to help me give you CPR after you had a heart attack right there in the ultrasound room, even though she kept badmouthing you and the stress you put me through."

Tony closed his eyes briefly, taking the blame for that fact like a champ. When he opened his eyes again, though, Pepper's face was now inches away from his. He could feel her breath tickling his lips. The skin of her face barely brushing his. He could count all the freckles on her cheeks, with how close she was. He was practically hypnotized by her presence, almost lost in the feel of her, until she spoke again.

"But then…" her eyes fell. "Then Sokovia happened. I started getting really bad cramps. Horrible pains in my abdomen while I was watching the news. I was monitoring your vitals with the app you made. I was so scared again. I didn't want to lose you or the baby. I hadn't even had the chance to tell you and I…"

The hold he had on her hands tightened when he felt her loosen her grip. Tears were falling down his cheeks now, listening to what she had gone through without him, and his heart was breaking at the fact that she had made herself lose the chance at having that baby with him. He hated the fact that he had to hear what she had to go through. But he hated it more that she had done it alone because he had been away, trying to put down a rogue AI that he had helped make.

"When your heartbeat monitor flatlined," Pepper shook her head at the memory. "That was it for me. Bambi and Happy called an ambulance. They thought I was just panicking at thinking you were gone. And I was, but also… I started bleeding on the way to the emergency room. Dr. Adler showed up. She told me that there was nothing they could do for me, or for it."

The silence that followed her statement lasted only for a few seconds. It was only long enough for Pepper to control the quivering of her voice and for Tony to reluctantly allow her hands to be pulled away from his face to rest as fists on her upper legs.

"After that, I just started acting stupid and everything went downhill. Dr. Adler kept telling me I couldn't continue like this. She kept saying that she needed to talk to you about it. Tell you herself what needed to be done to carry a pregnancy to term. But that meant telling you what had happened, and I just wasn't ready for it. You were getting more and more involved with the Avengers, even if you didn't go out on missions as often. I thought, based on comments you've made, that you never wanted children. My hormones were all out of whack. I was so emotional. Everything bothered me…"

"So you did it," Tony said, slipping down from the chair to sit on the floor with his redhead, their knees touching. "You decided to have the surgery."

Pepper nodded weakly, the backs of her hands wiping away tears.

"It was quick. In and out. Simple. I figured I would tell you one day. If I had to. If you ever brought up the topic of kids… one day… in the future…"

"And I did," Tony lowered his head, the pieces of the puzzle coming together. "But it was too soon. You were still recovering. And then I proposed… and I… I accused you of… I didn't…"

"You didn't know. Just like I didn't know, until a few days ago, that the surgery did more than I had asked for," she dug her fingernails against the inside of her hands, the last part of her revelation being the hardest to share. "Dr. Adler didn't know either, because she didn't do the surgery for me. Someone else did, at the last second. And now… now my health is going to be… I'm going to be…"

Just like that, the waves of pain and regret that she had been trying to hold back, all came pouring out of her. Every feeling that she had pushed back for weeks; every emotion that she had forced herself to lock away, they all rushed out in a blur. She almost hit the floor when her body went limp, but Tony caught her in his arms and held her up as she told him everything else there was to know. She told him, in between painful-sounding sobs, about the error during surgery. She confessed her fears regarding what this was going to do to her. How she ran the risk of having a shorter life – a sick life, if her body so desired to be the case. How her choice had placed her on the path of an even more difficult life for her and anyone who was with her. She begged him for forgiveness for it at all. For lying to him. For leaving him out of the decision-making process that had led her here. For keeping him out of an experience he had every right to have lived with her, even if the experience had ended in heartbreak and disappointment.

She told him, in no uncertain terms, that she knew now that she should have let him in. Every time. All the time. She made sure that he understood that she knew that she had done wrong by him. And he, in turn, made sure that she also knew that he had learned, too. That he was also full of regrets and hopes for a better time together after this, and that he did not care if her life was going to be a nightmare for him. She was it for him. Had been for a while. Would be for the rest of his days. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Kids or no kids.

Then, as the crying subsided and he cradled her in his arms, Tony knew that it was time for his one question – one she had not answered with her previous words and that he needed an answer to – and also time to tell her about the fate of their marriage. Just a simple question and a final admission, and they could put all of this behind them once and for all.

He gave her another moment to compose herself, his hands rubbing her back as he did so, and he then cleared his throat to catch her attention. Pepper immediately lifted her head to face him, a hint of apprehension written all over her features. She was tired, physically and emotionally, they both were, but she knew that there was still something that Tony had to tell her. She wanted this to be over, too. And they were so close to the end.

So close, they could both feel it in the air.

Wanting nothing more than to call it done forever, Tony took in a deep breath, readjusted his position on the floor while Pepper still sat across his lap, and then spoke once again.

"During the trip. The showers. The… nights together. Why? Why did you do that with me?"

Pepper snickered, the honest answer coming out of her without problem; the opportunity to reply giving them a chance at feeling a sense of levity between them.

"Because you're good in bed. Never boring. Never disappointing. Because I wanted to. And because I love you."

"Huh," Tony could not hold back a smug smile, his ego growing as big as a planet with such simple words. "I think we're good, then."

Pepper giggled and shook her head. "Really? That easy?"

"Yup," he pressed his lips against his forehead.

"Good thing we're already married, then. Because I don't know if I want to attach myself to that arrogant self-image of yours long-term, if we weren't," she jested.

Tony flinched at that and cleared his throat again.

"Yeah… about that. Now that you mention it…"

Pepper furrowed her brow. "What? What about that?"

"Well… you see… My last lie to clear up. The last thing you need to know is… is…"

Before he could stop himself, his eyes glanced at the magazine for a second too long. Long enough for Pepper to notice it and for her head to pull back from his chest. She narrowed her eyes at him, then at the issue of _Vanity Fair_ , and then her eyes shifted left and right. It did not take long for her eyes to grow wide; to look at their rings, and then to stand up from his lap and snatch the magazine from the table to find the article she was now dying to read.

Tony watched as she flipped through the pages, stopping on the section where the scanned documents were explained. He could see the understanding coming to her on her face – he could see the wheels turning in her head, learning what he had wanted to say. As she lost herself in the details of the article, he walked back to the door, opened it, retrieved a folder from Bambi that she had been holding for him, and then locked the door again behind him.

By the time Pepper had finished reading the explanation of their fake marriage, Tony had placed the original papers on the desk for her to see. The top paper looked exactly like the one she had seen on the picture in the magazine, missing the one signature that would make their marriage the real deal. Her name printed under the blank signature line was highlighted, and a small sticky note in the shape of an arrow pointed towards the empty line.

Pepper placed the magazine on the desk once more, and then stared incredulously at Tony.

"Is there anything in this article that is false?"

"Mmhh," Tony tapped the desk with his fingers. "I won't leave you for the lack of an heir. I don't care, if we could have kids, if we had a boy or a girl, and Christine Everhart is not my fucking mistress. Oh! And our marriage is not a sham if you just sign this paper before it expires next month and send it to the courthouse with this overnight, already paid-for shipping label."

Pepper picked up the paper in her hands. "So, it's true. We aren't really married?"

"We're one signature away from making _that_ statement false."

"But we're not, right now?"

"Technically, we are, until July 31st. On the first of August, this document will expire and the marriage will be null and void."

"So, this signature… this _one_ signature is the only reason we're not really married right now?"

"And the mailing. Mailing the document with a post date of no later than July 31st is very important, too."

"How did it happen?" Pepper began as she read the details of the document, "How did you find out?"

"Clerical error. And Happy did," Tony replied, his hand pulling out a pen from the holder on the desk before handing it to her.

A clerical error. Just like her extended surgery had been.

"And then he told me," Tony added with a shrug.

"When did he tell you?" the redhead asked as she grabbed the pen from him.

"Halfway through our trip, I think."

"And why didn't you tell me right away? This could have jeopardized our business deals."

"Yes, I know. But I didn't tell you because I didn't want to force you into it."

"Into what?"

"Into making it real. I-I… I had already made way too many decisions for you. And this one – this is huge. You had already said _no_ , once. I didn't want you to have to say _yes_ only because you felt you had to. I knew, Pepper, that if I had told you this while we were still traveling, you would've signed it without thinking."

"You sure about that?" the ginger asked as she placed the paper on the desk and the pen hovered over the signature line.

"I would bet my life on it."

"That sure?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because, Honey, I _know_ you. And I know that you would've because I would've too, if it meant helping you somehow. You'd put my happiness over yours, any day. Every time."

"Every time."

"Every time, Sweetheart. That's what we do for each other. Every goddamned fucking time."

As his words echoed in her mind, Pepper pressed the tip of the pen against the paper, but she made no effort to stamp it with her signature. Nanoseconds became seconds, and seconds became a full minute – a minute in which neither of them moved or spoke. Probably did not breathe, either. The longer Pepper hesitated, the pen still on the paper, the more Tony's heart raced, fearing that he knew what he had inadvertently done with his words. They _had_ been truthful words – innocent words; a declaration that was already common knowledge between them. However, given the situation and the conversation they had just had, such a simple admission had even more power than before.

Power that he did not want to be seen used for evil right now.

He bit the inside of his mouth, afraid to make any sudden movements or say anything that would break the trance Pepper seemed to be in, and he simply waited for her. If she needed three hours to sign the paper, he would stand here like a statue. If she needed ten hours, he would not move a muscle during that time. If she needed for him to hold the paper in his hands while she doodled her signature on it, he was prepared to do that too.

What he was not prepared for, however, was for what she did after another minute went by: putting the pen down on the desk without signing the document at all.

"You're right."

"Pep?" he croaked.

He felt his throat go dry as he watched her stand up straight and face him. A sad smile appeared on her face a second before she pressed her lips against his. Her hands ended on his cheeks, and his arms around her waist. The kiss was sweet and soft; like all goodbye kisses tended to be, and she then took a step back and away from him.

The smile on her face turned resigned as she slowly walked towards the exit, his body in too much shock at what was happening to chase after her. She stopped briefly when her hand was on the knob, looked over her shoulder at his back, and then spoke the final words between them before leaving the room.

"I would've signed it. For you."

* * *

 **A/N:** PLEASE, DON'T KILL ME! It's not the end yet. The Epilogue is done and will be posted later on today :) I'm thinking I need to leave a venue for guest reviews to be posted in case there are any questions about what just happened here, and for Faithful Readers to process all of this information, just like our Pepperony will.


	19. Epilogue

**Guest Review Responses**

 **Pepperonylove: I cried a bucket of tears. This chapter is so intenseeeee! I need the epilogue now! Thanks for this btw. It was such a roller coaster of emotions reading through this fanfic. I want a new story from you! You write so good! Pepperony love! :) –** Thank you so much! Sorry about the tears. There might be more here, but all of happiness :D

 **Guest: Oh come on! That's after you promised to bring our pepperony back together is fanfic world if they were not able to be together in the MCU! Ya I sooo remember the author's note on the first chapter! It's like you're playing with our hearts! Okay my rant aside, the chapter was really well written, even though it turned out to be one hell of an emotional rollercoaster ride. But that's the point of great stories right? As long as you don't forget the happy ending part :) really enjoyed reading –** I remember, I swear! Here it is ^_^

 **A/N:** There is a final chapter before this that takes place in New York. If you're just seeing this notification before reading the first one, **please make sure you've read the previous chapter first!**

All right, my Faithful Readers, this is it. The final countdown to zero. The last lap. The final answer to _holy-fuck-is-this-woman-gonna-fix-this-shit-or-what_? It's all here, in a brief chapter (compared to the others), for your reading pleasure. I was gonna wait for the guest reviews to come, but I feel bad for inflicting the last chapter's cruel and unusual punishment upon your patient souls.

Breath easy, my friends. The harbor is safe.

* * *

 **Epilogue**

Who would have thought that supporting someone's hero journey could be so exhausting? Tony Star definitely had not.

He should have seen it coming, however, seeing how, after so many years on this Earth and so many years being a superhero, he was just now feeling comfortable in his own skin – enough so that he had taken it upon himself to coach others who would walk the same path he had.

That boy from Queens was a handful, though. Always calling, e-mailing and texting him and Happy. Always getting into kid-related trouble, but always because he had a good heart. A good soul. And a good head on his shoulders. _Most_ of the time.

Tony Stark was no sidekick, but he was certain that being the sidekick was probably easier and a lot less exhausting than being the coach. The cheerleader. The sounding board. The fucking voice of reason. He had a new respect for his friends, particularly for Pepper, seeing as she had done all of this for him for many years; making it look flawless while wearing high heels.

 _Pepper._

He let out a shuddering breath.

It was so hard being without her.

The billionaire exhaled as his gaze focused yet again on the unopened manila envelope that had been laying on his desk for weeks. It had been sent overnight to his office by Pepper, six weeks after he had sent her the marriage documents to her new home, in case she changed her mind, which had been done one day after she had refused to sign the papers and had walked out the door and his life. He had been stalling – avoiding, really – opening the damned thing because he had already known what he would find there. The deadline for sending in the documents had passed, and he knew from Happy that the final signed paper had not been filed with the court.

He and Pepper were no longer married. No longer spoke, except via a quick text message or by proxy, that was. She had even changed her personal phone number and he did not have it. Had not asked for it, either, and he had no intention of hacking the phone company to find out what it was. They were, for all intents and purposes, no longer in each other's lives. Yet, as the idiot he felt he was, he was still wearing his wedding band every day. He never took it off.

Nevertheless, the evidence before him told him that it was probably time to move on. To let go of hope. To take off the fucking ring from his hand. It had been two months since they had had that difficult conversation. Two months since they had both spilled out their truths to one another and had closed a painful chapter of their lives. They had needed the break. They had needed the trip. And they had needed to heal. Now he needed to accept that she was gone.

Two months.

A _lot_ of things can happen in two months.

And they had.

For one, Tony had been working with Peter Parker on his hero training. That alone had kept him pretty busy, as well as him overseeing the execution of the September Foundation grants. He had been spending a lot of time at MIT, whenever he was not guiding Spider-Man, talking to the students and providing feedback on their projects. It was a lot of work and sometimes he did not sleep for days, but it was what he loved – what he had hoped to do one day, so he was happy with that. Even if the one thing he loved more than science was no longer in his life.

Speaking of which, and another thing that had happened in the last two months, Piero Abbiati had passed away, two weeks ago. Pepper had sent him a text message to his personal phone, in the middle of the night, telling him that she had gotten the call from the widow herself, and that she was getting on a plane immediately to fly to Venice to help the devastated woman handle everything. Tony had offered his help, but Pepper had instantly declined it. He had not fought back. It was not as if the redhead needed his help – she could manage an international company on her own. She could definitely handle a funeral, a business transition, and the honoring of the one thing that they had told Piero they would do for his legacy and for his wife once he passed.

They _had_ promised it to the dying man. And Pepper had assured the inventor that she would deliver.

So she did.

She still was, in fact. She was still in Venice, and she would be for a few more weeks until everything that had been promised was delivered to perfection. He had no doubt that it would be done.

That was what Pepper did for everything in the end. She made sure that everything that was done, was done right. Even if hurt like hell to do the right thing.

Most of the time, it did.

It had.

Tony's right hand surrounded his left one, his fingers playing with the wedding band for nearly half a minute. He then pulled it off a quarter of the way, and then returned it to the base of his finger. Afterwards, he pulled it off halfway, and then pushed it back down once more. He did so a third time; this time stopping at the last knuckle of his finger before pushing it back down again. Then finally, on the fourth try, he took it off completely. The ring was now in the palm of his right hand, leaving his left hand feeling as naked and as empty as his heart felt.

His right hand closed on the piece of jewelry for a second before he unceremoniously dropped it on the desk and pulled his upper body away from the counter. The sound the ring made upon contact with the tabletop was as loud as the sound of his soul being ripped to pieces. His ears followed the repetitive noise the ring made while the decline of the kinetic energy within it caused the gradual reduction of its wobbly movements until it finally settled flat on the desk. The object became still and unmoving. The life it had pretended to have while gravity fought to bring it to a halt now gone.

Gone. Just like his hope was.

He might as well open the damn envelope and wrap this up.

He did not bother to be careful when he opened it, knowing that whatever was inside was no longer important. Nevertheless, Pepper being Pepper, she would be professional enough to return the documents to their rightful owner, even if they had no value anymore. His carelessness while handling the envelope yielded the expected results, however, and instead of the papers landing on the desk in a neat pile, the envelope tore at an odd angle and everything inside exploded like confetti before showering the area near him with its contents; all scattered and now needing to be collected one-by-one.

 _Yeah, sure. Why not?_

He stared at the mess he had made and realized that this would take a couple of minutes to clean up. He might as well get started on it. He had nothing but time until noon.

With a loud groan and a slow-as-snail pace, Tony began walking around his office, collecting the papers one by one.

Just as he expected, his scavenger hunt of the documents began putting together the marriage documents he had sent to Pepper. They were all over the place at the moment, some on the floor and some on the desk, but as he counted the marked pages, he knew that they were all here – including the unsigned one that he had prayed she would sign and send. Even the pre-paid overnight envelope that was addressed to the courthouse was here, as well as a small, sealed plastic bag that held her engagement and wedding rings.

At the sight of the plastic bag in his left hand, he collapsed on the floor, his back against the front of the sturdy desk, and he hung his head between his bent legs. It was one thing to suspect what the envelope had contained, but it was another to see that he had been right about it all along. While the envelope had been sealed, he had been able to hold on to hope that things would turn out OK for them. While there was no actual evidence to the contrary, he could dream and pretend that everything was going to go the way he had wanted it to go. Yet now, as the stack of voided papers lay by his feet, her rings hung in a bag in his left hand, and a white envelope with his name written on it rested against the leg of the guest chair to his right, he had to accept that it was all done and gone.

 _Wait_ , his head did a double-take, _An envelope with my name on it?_

That was new. He did not recall sending _that_ with the papers.

As opposed as to what he had done with the manila envelope, he was careful when tearing the smaller one. It was the size of a greeting card, but it did not contain one. Instead, it held a yellow piece of paper – the same type that Pepper used to write notes during important meetings, and it was addressed to him.

It was an honest-to-God, handwritten letter. By Pepper. For him.

He wasted no time. He had to read it. Her voice inside his mind read it along with him.

 _Tony,_

 _I don't know when you will see this, but I hope it's during this lifetime, even if it just so that you know why I did what I did. I can't blame you if you never read this, or if you do and don't care. I've hurt you so much. Done things to you that you didn't deserve, and I'll take the guilt and regret to my grave. I'll never be able to ask you for enough forgiveness, and I'll never be able to make it up to you. That's how much I've done you wrong._

 _I have no expectations of receiving forgiveness from you. I don't even expect you to want to see me ever again. All I can hope is that the time I've given you has allowed your heart to heal. That it has given you time to think things over and see them how I saw them. I hope that the time you've had on your own since I left will help you understand what I did. What I'll explain to you right now._

 _You were right. Just like I said when I left: you were right. If you had told me about the papers during the trip, I would've signed then, no questions asked. I would've done anything and everything you needed me to do to make that marriage real, even if it wasn't. And that was the problem: the marriage wasn't real. It was the product of a mistake, and it was carried by the need we have to help each other. It was not real. None of it was. And that's why I couldn't let it be just that. That's why I walked away from it. From you. From us._

 _In that moment, when you told me how sure you were that I would've signed the papers and why, I knew I couldn't go through with it. Not because I didn't love you, because I do – I STILL do. But because it wasn't right. Because I had just told you everything that I had done, and I had told you what I have to live with for the rest of my life, and I realized that keeping you tied to the marriage that way was no different than the situation you had spared me from by not telling me about the issue while on the trip. You had wanted me to have a choice – a real choice. And I realized I also wanted you to have one._

 _If I'd signed the papers, I would've forced you into the lie. And I don't want any more lies. I want truths. I want you to be with me because you want it as much as I want it, too._

 _I want to do things right._

 _And if you want that too, even after all this time, ring me up. If you still want to do things right, let me know. If you still want there to be an us, the right way, let's work on that._

 _Together._

 _I want to do things right._

 _Do you?_

 _I'll be waiting. My whole life._

 _Love,_

 _Pepper_

That was it. That was all. He had suspected it – he had hoped for it – and he had been right.

Now, she wanted to know if he wanted to be right, to _do_ things right, yet again.

Did he?

Damn right, he did.

He did not even have to think about it. He knew he did.

The bottom of the letter contained what he assumed was her new personal cell phone number, but he knew he would not need it. He was not calling her for this. A phone call was not the way.

Instead, Tony stood up from the floor and pressed the single button on the intercom, his heart beating fast and the letter shaking in his hand.

"Bambi, do you happen to know where Pepper is right now?"

" _I do, sir. I have her itinerary for Venice. Would you like me to bring a copy for you?"_

"Yes. Yes, I would. And I need you to get the jet ready for me to go to wherever she is right now."

" _Immediately, sir."_

With that, a wide smile spread across his face.

She wanted to do things right.

He wanted to do things right.

He would.

So he did.

And then, much later, after the wedding and the reception and the honeymoon were over, while they had been opening gifts and had been making jokes about the weird ones they had received, a single pink envelope would catch their eye. It would be addressed to the both of them, from Dr. Adler's office at that, and it would make the laughter stop.

But only for an instant.

Only until they pieced together what they were looking at.

There had been yet another clerical error. One more thing that had been done wrong with her surgery. Yet, this time, the error was in their favor.

The error was just fine.

The medical bill was cryptic, but the letter of explanation from Dr. Adler was not. Her eggs had not been destroyed after their removal from her body during the surgery; they had been harvested. They had been frozen and stored, and the renewal bill for the service was due – which was how Dr. Adler had found out this had happened. They were available for use during surrogacy, if they so desired. And the doctor was one-hundred percent sure that they were hers.

The tears in their eyes were real. The opportunity presented to them a miracle. The chance to bring a new life into the world together dreamlike. And while the method would be unconventional, what difference did it make? Their entire life was unconventional. Who the fuck cared if this was unconventional as well?

No one did.

All that mattered was that they could have this together. That they could work on this together. That they could get the family that they had wanted to raise.

They could do it right, for _them_.

So they did.

 **THE END**

* * *

 **A/N:** Just like Pepper said, there isn't enough time in the world for me to thank you all for your support, kind words of encouragement, and for the overall awesome way you guys helped me work through my personal issues through this fic. This chapter is dedicated to all of you; my hubby, Teen Tyrant (who is my beta); and two special people that don't even know this chapter is for them. The first one is my sister. She has no clue that I'm a nerd that writes fanfics, but she's pregnant right now with her first child, after years of infertility problems, and things are not OK with her. A couple of days ago, I found out that her pregnancy has taken some bad turns, and she may have the baby way too early. She is at risk, too, and while the doctors are monitoring her closely, it's a waiting game right now. I don't pray, but I know some of you do, so I hope you keep her in your prayers for me. The second person is someone I've spoken to only once in my entire life: a former colleague of my mom's. When I was in high school, this woman was already an elementary teacher, married and all that. She was pregnant with her first child, and towards the end of the pregnancy, she had complications. Long story short, the C-section was done by a shitty-as-fuck doctor, and not only did she lose the baby, but the operation was done so poorly that she was left sterile. The doctor cut more than he should have, and she can no longer bear children of her own. They ended up taking everything out because of his error, and last I heard, she got a divorce because of it. I can't do anything for her, or for my sister. All I can do is wait, hope for the best and provide support when I can. Just like all of you did for me. You've taught me that this is more than enough. Knowing that you're not alone is enough. That other people think of you and pray for you, even when you yourself suck at matters of faith is enough. Maybe one day I won't suck at them. But right now, I do. Thankfully, and gratefully, you helped me carry it all.

Not sure what else to say to wrap this up other than: THANK YOU. I wish you all the best end of the year, and the best start of the new one. Until next time, my Faithful Readers!


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